


Hunting Season (On Hiatus)

by Gaudium0Xchara



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Epic Friendship, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Nen (Hunter X Hunter), Psychology, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:22:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25224574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaudium0Xchara/pseuds/Gaudium0Xchara
Summary: The last thing she remembers is getting ready to sleep in her comfy bed...So Anyone please explain to her :• Why did she wake up on a tube, in a dark tunnel full of creepy people.• How did she get there in the first place.• When would she go back home .••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••A journey of a girl from our world in the hunter x hunter adventurous world.
Relationships: Gon Freecs & Killua Zoldyck & Original Character(s), Gon Freecs & Kurapika & Leorio Paladiknight & Killua Zoldyck & Original Character(s), Gon Freecs & Original Character(s), Killua Zoldyck & Original Character(s)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 66





	1. Holy x Shit

**Author's Note:**

> So , since I've found about fanfiction(since last year) I've tried looking for a hunter x hunter self insert stories and didn't find many .. even though the hunter x hunter world is a really well written world , maybe one of the best I've read and seen..so here it is , hope you enjoy . ~

Eyes still closed, she woke up as a chilling breeze passed by her face. Weird, she definitely remembers covering herself with one thick sheet before getting to sleep.

Her ears made out the sound of people chattering next to her.

Was her brain trolling her or something? Why would there be people in her room? Surely, it's just noise coming from outside her window.

Expecting a fluffy pillow under her head, she put her hand under the latter trying to put the pillow over it so it'll maybe conceal the noise a little bit, but it just wouldn't budge! ' _What the ...',_ it was solid hard like a rock, and strangely ...long?

Her eyes then snapped open.

She was met instantly with the view of a huge crowd of people, like really a LOT of people, everywhere, all huddled together in what looked like a.. tunnel? _'It's not a dream.'_ She thought while pinching herself.

' _Just where the_ hell _am I ?'_

Looking around confusedly, the back of her neck suddenly hurt. Glancing behind her, she found out she's been sleeping the whole time on a.. tube! She also spotted a blue backbag hanging on it, her backbag. ' _Yes!!'_

Ignoring the odd looks directed at her, she furiously searched into her backbag. "Please , please , be there .." she pleaded.

"AHA !"

Finding her phone, fortunately, she tried turning it on.. but with no use. It was dead. "Shit." she cursed under her breath. ' _Great ! No phone, no 911, no home.'_ she thought internally. Putting it back into her backbag ,she sat back on tube and sighed.

' _Now , what to do ?'_

If it was someone else, they would either be screaming or panicking by now, but she already knew that tears and screams don't solve shit, she had to be rational even when she's scared. So she started observing her surroundings, counting a list of information in her head:

**First :** She was inside a cave or a tunnel.. who knows? There were tubes on the walls, and it was dark but seeable thanks to the red lights. She heard noises coming from above the roof, so this place must be underground. ' _Great.'_ she thought sarcastically. Maybe those tubes were what provide this tunnel with oxygen, like an oxygen supply.

**Second :** Most of the crowd was guys. She spotted few girls and women.

She also noticed that all of them were wearing badges with numbers on it. The numbers weren't random, she added after seeing three guys -talking to each other - wearing badges with consecutive numbers: 197..198..199.

**Third :** Those people clothes style was.. bizarre to say the least. There were people wearing kimonos with high heels, others looking like time travellers from the eighties and the nineties with dyed hair. ' _What is this , a carnival?'_ she snorted. Her heart had stopped working when a spiky-haired guy with needles on his head passed her by, the terrifying thing is that he looked distantly familiar to her, but she dismissed the thought as she never would know a creepy guy like him. It wasn't just the clothes that were weird. She observed that many people were holding some kind of weapon, like that short guy with a lock knife hidden clumsily in the back pocket of his trousers, or this black guy with a Michael Jackson hat and a FREAKING _Astra Model 903_ pistol in his hand! The ones who didn't look to have a weapon are some bulky muscled hulks.

After all this babbling, she concluded that she didn't have much information to conclude something. So, _'Onto plan B' ,_ which was asking strangers. Dismissing the nagging voice of her mother repeating _Stranger Danger,_ she stood up carrying her backbag on one shoulder, looking around attentively for a not ( or less ) creepy looking person to ask.

* * *

Tompa's luck with this year's rookies wasn't getting any better. He thought he tricked the green wild child and his two other friends, but somehow his plan failed. ' _My god ! What's the matter this year with the new guys?'_ he thought sourly, _'Do they think they're veteran or something?' ._

It was like he lost his touch. The only one who drank his laxative juice was n°99: a white-haired kid named Killua, he looked to be at the same age as n°405 (the wild child). He felt a little bad for him but kids have to be taught sometimes that life can be difficult. He smirked, ' _In a few moments, he won't be able to hold back anymore, and ..-'_

_"_ Oi ! Tompa! Would you give me another one? "

Killua's chirpy voice interrupted him. He still couldn't believe the kid isn't dying from dehydration by now after drinking 5 cans. Noticing the nervous look on Tompa's face, Killua smirked.

" You're worried?", asked Killua , "Me I have no problem because I've trained myself. No poison can kill me."

Tompa was left dumbfounded.

Almost wanting to give up on his laxative juice plan, he noticed another kid standing alone. ' _How did I miss him? '_ , wondered Tompa. Looking last time at the only juice can left, he took his way to the kid .

On his way, he analyzed his prey, the child looked to be at the same age as n°405 and n°99, maybe older, wearing some ..strange clothes: a blue sweater with a tongue's picture saying "bleh" on it, red baggy pants, and yellow FLIPLOPS .

The kid looked like an.. outsider.

What took Tompa's interest though was the blue backbag on their back, with a brand he didn't recognize. It seemed expensive. ' _So this vagrant looking kid is actually a rich kid ',_ he sniggered, _' this would be fun ' ._

_"_ I didn't catch you around , you're new aren't you ? "

* * *

"I didn't catch you around, you're new aren't you?"

She was caught on guard when someone approached her. Taking a step back, just in case, she analyzed the stanger for a moment. _' A man , short heighted, seemed to be in early or mid forties.'_ He didn't look sketchy, so she allowed herself to relax a little bit.

She didn't understand the question though. _'New to what?'_ she pondered for a second, so she answered him with a question of her own .

"What do you mean?", she asked him innocently. She didn't wanna look like she doesn't know what the hell is happening, people take advantage of other people's ignorance, and also.. _'Vague questions can lead sometimes to interesting responses '._

A funny expression crept into the stranger's face, like he didn't expect that answer, but he quickly hid that look with a closed eye smile .

"Hahaha, no need to be defensive" He joked, " let's start from the beginning, I'm Tompa. You?"

' _Tompa , huh?' ,_ she wondered briefly why the name sounded kinda.. nostalgic to her. Deciding that there is no harm in giving Tompa her real name, she answered him confidently:

"I am Avery, but you can call me Ava." she added politely after, "Nice to meet you, Tompa ."

He seemed nice enough .

Maybe she could ask him if he had any water with him, all this thinking and weird shit she's seeing had make her throat dry.

"Do you have any water with you, Tompa?", she asked nicely.

"Uh.. no." She deflated at his answer. "But I have a can of juice, if you wanted" added Tompa enthusiastically. He revealed from his pocket an orange can and tossed it to her .

' _I've never seen this language be_ _fore.' ,_ she thought while inspecting the can, weird letters were written on it's cover. Well she needn't to understand , cause there was a picture of an orange on it.

Failing to notice the smirk on Tompa's face, she opened the can and brought it slowly to her mouth .

Then, she stopped .

This situation .. felt like a _déja Vu to her_. A familiarity she can't put her finger on it, like a mosquito you're trying to ignore but keeps buzzing annoyingly around you. She remembered that Tompa hadn't properly answered her question so she asked him again :

"Hey, Tompa . What did you mean when you asked me if I'm new or not?"

_Familiar .. so familiar_

"Huh? Well.. I have participated in this test 35 times , I can tell the newbie from the expert, you know. I'm what they call a veteran." He answered loftily.

_A strong déja vu.. a familiar conversation... something she watched on a big screen..yes.._

"What test are you talking about?"

_..badge 16.. juice can.. weird people.. it can't be ..-_

"Do you have amnesia , kid? It's the **Hunter _Exam_**."

Immediately, all the memories rushed back to her. Memories of her and her friends watching the show. Memories of her rewatching the show _alone._ memories of her reading the manga. Then rereading it. Time spent on watching YouTube videos analyzing the psychology of the anime ..she was in ..

' _I'm in hunter x hunter..._ THE hunter x hunter _.. Togashi's FREAKING hunter x hunter..'._ She screamed internally, ' _When. Why. HOW!!!'._

The spilled juice can on the ground went unnoticed in her tense excitement.

**" LILILILILILILILILILILILILILILILILI.."**

A sound of a bell rang through the tunnel interrupting Ava's thought course.

Everyone looked for the source of the noise Up, on one of the tubes, stood a guy with a purple suit. Pressing on the robot on his hand to stop the ringing, he looked down at the participants.

"Here I am.", he said.. maybe (No one could tell how he is talking for he didn't have a mouth ). "The time for reception is over. Now the exam can begin."

' _Holy shit !'_

Hopping down, he hinted at the participants to follow him, "This way please."

Meanwhile, as the crowd started walking, an idea shined in Ava's head. ' _Now's my chance. While they're still walking and occupied by Satotz's explanation, I'll use my ninja-like stealth to get to the elevator and get the hell out of here.'_

Just about when she was turning to the opposite direction, people in front and behind her suddenly started running.

' _Noooo! I was too late! '_

Pushing with all her might through the crowd, she collided with a very bulky guy. The impact pushed her back into the middle.

Let's just say, she was swarmed away.

* * *

Tompa's luck with this year beginners hadn't started the best. His laxative juice plan for once was a failure.

' _This year's newbies are though_ _.'_ he thought while running. 'Heh _Heh..but that's just what gives more meaning for me to crush them.'_

Mind back to all the new participants and their numbers, it suddenly hit him..

_That kid.. Ava.. didn't have a badge._


	2. Hope x and x strong will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She runs..  
> She dives..  
> She runs again..  
> She meets new characters..  
> She sprays..

The more she ran and ran, the more she realized that this nightmare would never end. They had been running for like what.. five hours, seven hours? Hell, maybe it's nighttime then and she couldn't know, because she was in a tunnel underground. _Yay._ People around her were still moving simultaneously, the steady pounding of their footsteps echoed into her ear. She wheezed as her burning lungs gasped for air, her breath forming clouds in the air. Her legs felt numb and rubbery. ' _How can they be still moving?' . No_ wonder, those were experts, they were used to endurance tests like these. She wasn't. Ava was just a normal human being.. from another world.. an alien? Whatever.. Beads of sweat were falling like tears down her face, dizziness, and breathing was getting harder and harder by every passing second. Her feet were hurting really bad, blood probably sneaking between her toes, she was wearing flip-flops for Togashi's damn sake, without mentioning that she was in her bed clothes, ones comfortable for snoozing not for scooting.

She noticed that all of a sudden the speed of the army of people in front of her had slowly began decreasing. Looking above, she came face to face with the stairs of hell. She totally forgot about it. People started stopping too, using the stairs to sit and breath out.

Suddenly, she tripped.

Using the stairs, she tried pushing herself to stand back, but she couldn't. Spotting a swollen heel, and bloody feet, she knew she couldn't continue the run.

People who were at the back, were now at at the front, no one glanced at her way, everyone passing her by were haughtily ignoring her. Reality suddenly struck her :

**_No one cared_ ** _._

She should know, she have watched the show, she should know that hunters were selfish egoistic creatures, Ging is for one a good example.

This wasn't her world.

She didn't belong here.

She was.. weak.

' **So what?'**

Stripping from her flip-flops and putting it in her backbag, she tried standing up for the last time, barely balancing herself.

Yes, this wasn't Ava's world .

' _Of course, I'm from another world. '_

Yes, Ava didn't belong here.

' _I belong at home, with my family, my friends. '_

Yes, Avery was weak.

' _No. She was normal. Physically at least. '_

But giving up here meant giving up life.

If she couldn't climb some dozen of stairs then how could she believe she would survive in this world? How could she believe she would ever get back home?

_'Screw this world, screw you too Togashi if you're listening,_ **_( A.N : I'm kidding Togashi-sensei , I really respect you. Please don't sue me. :) )_ ** _I will get that Hunter's license even if it means challenging Netero himself. '_

Looking above once again, this time Ava saw light instead of hell.

Feeling a surge of adrenaline engulfing her body, she bolted up the stairs forcing her legs to push harder, towards the light. Leaving bloody footprints on the stairs behind her.

"SPAAARTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

* * *

**Many years after, when there are new participants in the exam, a new official name will be bestowed upon those stairs:**

**_Tartarus stairs._ **

**Referencing to a trail of blood left by one of the old participants, leading to the exit of the tunnel.**

* * *

For the first time in six hours, a smile crept on all the faces of the participants as a bright light shone at the end of the stairs.

"OH look! "

"It's the exit!! "

"At least, we're leaving the darkness of the underground. "

Satotz was the first one to reach the exit, for he was the judge and the one leading the participants to the next part of the first phase. But first..

"Let's see how many people made it."

Turning his head for a glance, he didn't expect to see two kids just behind him.

"Yatta! I win! ", declared the green kid.

"What are you talking about? I was the fastest.", argued the white haired kid.

"No way! It was me."

And.. they started squarelling .

Satotz was the judge for many reasons, but not one of those reasons was, definitely, handling kids, especially ones who partook in the hunter exam.

So, he just stood there and.. awkwardly stared.

The two kids didn't seem to find an agreement so they turned to Satotz for help.

"I think it's a tie.", he said simply.

Although the answer didn't seem to satisfy them, a look of acception was there too.

_Kids were very competitive_.

"Then, I'll invite you to dinner.", decided the green kid, "And you'll invite me after."

His friend's shoulders slumped in defeat, holding an expression of confusion.

_Kids were also very stubborn_.

"Ne, Satotz-san. Is this the second phase of the exam? ",asked him the green kid.

"No. There is still a long way ahead of us."

"Eeeeh?!"

_Kids were cute too_.

* * *

Dozens of participants started coming out from the blackness of the tunnel. They were there, finally, in the outside. Well, in the foggy outside. They were kinda expecting a clear blue sky and a bright sunshine that'll warm the cold air bitting into their lungs. Not a blinding Mist!

* * *

After 2 minutes, the mist finally vanished, uncovering a fantastic natural view of a forest.

It was time. _Only 30 seconds left until the exit will be firmly closed, noted Satotz._

Time enough for a 'touristic' presentation.

"The _numelle'_ s Marsh nicknamed ' _The crooks nest' .._ ", he started earning everyone's attention.

. _.27 seconds left_..Two guys came out

"This the place where the second round will stand. You'll have to go through there.", said Satotz pointing at the forest.

_..22 seconds left_.. another 2 guys and a woman passed through the door.

"The rare animals you'll find out in the Marsh..-"he continued.

. _.15 seconds left.._ Only one guy this time came out.

"-eat humans for lunch, they're birds of prey as well as gamers."

.. _9 seconds left.._ no one came out.

"Follow me and pay close attention.."

.. _6 seconds left.._ no one came out.

"Losing the way results in death."

.. _3 seconds left.._ no one came out.

311 participants, huh?

..0 _seconds left.._

Time to close the door.

* * *

"-TAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....Huh?!"

She stopped shouting when she saw the door is almost halfway close.

' _Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit-'_ , Ava cursed, ' _It's over. I'm gonna be trapped here forever.'_

_'No, I'm not.'_

Evaluating the distance between the door and the ground, she found out she could dive through.. but there was a problem:

her backbag.

If Ava dived with it, she'll get stuck, and probably get her head crushed too. Shivering at the thought, she glanced outside and saw the shiny back of a shirtless man sitting on the ground. Deciding that there was no other solution but to get rid of her backbag.. for now, she called at the guy she saw outside:

"Hey, Shirtless uncle! Catch this!"

"WHO ARE YOU CAL- OOMPH!"

Tossing her precious backbag at the man, she began replaying all of her past volleyball training in mind.

Using the little force left in her legs , Ava jumped low to the ground, head up.

Landing safely on her chest, she put her sweaty hands on the ground and fluidly slided out.(literally)

" **Clang!"**

* * *

* * *

* * *

.. _o seconds left.._

Time to close the door.

Lifting his finger dramatically, Satotz pointed at the exit, stating the end of the first part of the hunter exam's first phase.

..316 participants _, huh?.._

However, just before the door was completely shut down, a small figure suddenly immerged, in time, through the little gap.

" **clang"**

The door was closed.

Looking closely, Satotz realized that the figure was another kid.

Everyone's gaze was on the child as he awkwardly tried to stand up on his _bare_ feet. His toes were smudged in blood, and his clothes were splotched from the front in dirt, most likely because of the dive he performed before.

_kids were very stubborn, indeed._

Remembering the time, he coughed loudly, reminding everyone of his presence.

"Back to where we have stopped", he continued the presentation, "The living Marsh are going to do all that is possible to have fun and make a good lunch. The predators who find a prey, rush at it. That's the ecosystem.. And that's why this place is called the _crooks nest_ ."

"Take care not to be surprised.", Satotz warned, "And do your best to follow me."

..312 participants..

* * *

"And do your best to follow me."

She made it..

She made it..

She made it..

She made it..

She wasn't dead..

SHE WAS STILL ALIVE.

' _Hahahahahaheh...heheh....heh..PHEW!',_ Ava let a long breath of relief she didn't realize she was holding. The guy on her left sent her an odd look.

_What? Never saw someone celebrating life ?_

While checking if all her toes were still intact into her feet, her blue backbag suddenly popped into her mind. ' _Oh, yeah! My backbag! Where is it?'_.

Searching around for the guy she tossed her backbag to, Ava's gaze froze at the shadow behind the exit, as a man figure crept out to the clear, shouting at the top of his lungs:

"THAT'S FALSE! HE'S LYING TO ALL OF YOU GUYS."

Everyone's attention slided to this guy. A man, deeply injured, and was holding in hand something, it was hidden behind the wall. ' _Oh. I already know what that is. A trap!'_ Ava thought as the guy began his oscar-nominated act.

"He's an imposter! He's not a judge at all!", he accused Satotz while pointing his finger at him. "The real judge is me!" the guy proclaimed loudly.

A hint of suspicion layered on the group.

"An imposter? What does that mean?"

"So then.. who is he?!"

Shaking her head in disbelief, Ava complained to herself, ' _He just explained to you idiots! Was I the only one paying attention to him when he said this forest was full of trickery creatures?!'_

Then she shifted her gaze to Satotz calm face. ' _Did he already know this'll happen or was this all a convenient haphazard?',_ she wondered.

"Look at this!" The guy then showed the thing that was hidden behind him. It was a monkey. Well, a monkey with a face that suspiciously resembled Satotz's, the participants noticed. "It's a monkey-man!", ' _No shit.'_ Ava almost scoffed loudly. The guy began to explain: "The monkey-man like fresh flesh, they have longs thin limbs, but overall-", At that, Ava blanked out all his monlogue after.

' _This is getting ridiculous. Can't believe these guys believed the man.'_ When she had watched this scene from screen, she knew immediately this was all a trap. Now, nothing changed. If Ava actually looked closely, she could see the chest and the limbs of the monkey moving, the monkey wasn't dead nor unconscious.

Speaking of the monkey-men, the guy still hadn't finished his performance. "His only purpose is to get rid of all of the candidates in one time." The man claimed.

Ava sighed loudly.

_First of all, if Satotz REALLY wanted to get rid of us, he would do it when were still in the tunnel, you know, when it's dark and underground._

_Second, I'm really sure you're talking_

_about yourself._

_Third, you and your monkey are dead meat in 3.. 2..1_

In a flash, 3 cards were flicked from her left, aiming directly at the guy, as they dig forcefully into his face knocking him back.

He wasn't the only one targeted though. Satotz too. But unlike the now dead man over there, Satotz caught the cards with no sweat. Everyone's gaze, including Ava's, shifted to the doer. And surprise no surprise, it was Hisoka. In all his magical glory.. Get it? Cause he's a magician?...

Ava still couldn't believe he was real, standing there in front of her, and not in her phone. She definitely forgot she met Tompa before. Well, he wasn't much of a character to remember.

"Hehe, I see ♥." Hisoka chuckled.

As soon as the attention switched to Hisoka, the faking dead monkey jumped from underneath the dead guy..monkey, trying to run away. Keeping his eyes on the judge, Hisoka swiftly fired one of his cards at the monkey, killing it.

"The monkey wasn't dead?!"exclaimed one of the candidates.

' _Well now it's dead.'_ Rolling her eyes mentally, Ava silently wondered if Hisoka was using Nen to enhance his cards.

Glancing at Hisoka's back while he was explaining the whole trap, Ava suddenly felt weird. There was no hesitation made in Hisoka's actions. He didn't hesitate to kill the guy, nor the monkey, nor Satotz. It was cool on the screen, but in reality here it was terrifying. A realization hit Ava. _This is no_ _fiction anymore. Anyone here can kill and get killed anytime. She gotta be careful if she wanna survive. Especially when there is someone like Hisoka around._ Ava reminded herself to always remind herself to avoid Hisoka at all costs, well, it's not like she was gonna talk to him or something. She was not suicidal.

In pursuit of, a flock of birds suddenly swarmed around the fallen bodies. Ava looked away as they started to feast on the fresh gory meat. She almost threw up.

"It's the law of nature"a voice behind her said.

This could be her ending too if she isn't alerted and cautious.

* * *

Eventually the second stage started, and the group left for a now marathon in the Marsh. Ava decided to continue running bare-feet, the humidity of the haze and the mud made her feel sticky but helped cooling down the pain in her feet a bit. She quickened her pace. Ava didn't want to stay at the back, for the chances to get lost and separate from the group were higher. She definitely did'nt have the power for an all out sprint to the front, so she resolved for the middle. The neutrality.

All of a sudden, a hand grabbed the back of her sweater, stopping her in her tracks. Ready to defend herself from any creep, she looked behind her only to find a pair of coffee-colored eyes staring, through glasses, at her with an expression of annoyance. Their owner was a tall shirtless man with a necktie around his neck. Ava instantly recognized him.

LEO-FREAKING-RIO!!!!

Ava froze in her place like a statue, not knowing what to do, her eyes bulged out observing Leorio as he removed from his left shoulder a blue backbag. _Her backbag._

"I think this is yours." Leorio said while handing her back the backbag. _oh._ He was the shirtless uncle she tossed her backbag to. That makes sense now.

On the outside, she looked calm but grateful. Inside her head, she was crying from happiness as she found back her lost backbag, her only clue of home. Another part of her was still shocked, because Leorio, one of the MAIN characters of hunter x hunter was talking to her!

"Uh.."Ava muttered lamely. ' _Thank him you awkward idiot'_ She scolded herself. Not knowing how to start, she bowed. Leorio sent her a funny look. _' Bad move. Bad move.'_ She straightened up, looking at him in the eyes, her lips started blabbing on their own: "Uh. Thanks for keeping my back bag safe Leo-..I mean sir." She thanked him saving herself in time from saying his name. Noticing the red bump on his nose, she continued" Ah. Also sorry for tossing it at your face without warning, the backbag I mean...- and for calling you a shirtless uncle.." she added quietly.

The expression on Leorio shifted to a gentle one, not expecting the weird kid to be polite to him. So he just laughed it out: "Haha. Don't worry about it! " Ready to go back to the run, he added: "I'm Leorio. And this blonde girly-looking brat next to me is Kurapika."

Peeking behind Leorio, she saw Kurapika running next to them. An expression on his face told her He didn't exactly appreciate Leorio's introduction of him. But nevertheless he nodded at her .

"I'm Avery, but you can call me Ava. Nice to meet you Leorio, Kurapika."she introduced herself while running. Of course, she already knows their names. But acting oblivious wouldn't hurt.

A few moments later, a voice called out from the front to Leorio and Kurapika asking them to head to the front.

"Imbecile!" Leorio shouted next to her at the voice's owner, "If we could go, we would go!". At the same time, Kurapika yelled back: "Don't worry about us."

Wanting to strike a conversation and ease the tension a little bit, Ava asked them, "Who was that?"

"It's Gon." Leorio replied. Ava thought he stopped talking, but one second later he admitted: "He's our friend." A warm smile pulled onto Ava's lips. Only for it to transform into a frown when she remembered all the events'll be happening in the future.

* * *

5 minutes later, the haze grew thicker and thicker and kept spreading. Ava was still running next to Leorio and Kurapika silently. Ava didn't like the silence. Cause after every silence there's a storm coming.

Surprisingly, Kurapika was the one who broke the silence fist."I can't even distinguish which direction we're running in right now."he said looking in front of him.

"It's fine. As long as we follow the trail of those ahead of us."Leorio assured pointing at the shadows of candidates running in front of them. Ava did the same and kept looking in the front, keeping her eyes on the heads of the participants. "There is something wrong with their heads." Ava blurted out.

"What?"

Looking at both of Leorio and Kurapika, she pointed at the gray shadows in front of them. " Their heads are..-EH!!"Ava screeched.

Looking back, she saw that the heads she pointed at weren't there anymore. No, they were flying above of them.

"EEEEEH!! What the hell is happening?"Leorio screamed.

The flying heads approached them from the fog. And they weren't heads.Nu-Uh.

Ava never imagined in all her thirteen years of life that a day will come when strawberries could fly. If only she could record this with her phone.

A stupid guy, who was running behind them, tried to approach the strawberries, only to be swallowed by a head of a.. turtle? The mist started vanishing uncovering the whole body of a gigantic turtle. Ava realized that that the strawberries were a trap. So that means they already lost the way. ' _Shit'_ Ava cursed when she saw another turtle coming into their direction. Leorio noticing it coming too, he picked a wide branch lying next to him and started shouting at the turtle earning her attention.

The second turtle, already done with the others, shifted her attention too to them. Or precisely her. 'Great.' Ava thought sarcastically. Running from the crazy turtle following her, Ava hastily opened her backbag, in want to find something hard to throw at the turtle's head. There were: Her phone. _Definitely not_. Books and pencils. _Hmm not hard enough_. Her fliplops. She needed them. Her...-' _Yes. This'll do'._ Peeking behind her, she saw the turtle getting closer and closer to her. ' _Is that drool coming out of her mouth or I'm imagining things?'_.She stopped and waited for the turtle to come closer.

Meanwhile, Leorio was busy hanging from the branch in the other turtle's mouth until Kurapika saved him by kicking it(the turtle) in the eye. Once they were in the ground again, they started looking for Ava. They found him standing alone as another turtle was ironically sprinting to him. Thinking that Ava was too scared to move, Leorio and Kurapika both runned to save him.

Ava, though, was counting the seconds as the turtle approached her more. ' _Just another second.'_ It was until that the turtle was an inch apart of her, that she she opened the can she was hiding behind her back, and pepper sprayed the turtle in the eye . _'Take this, evil turtle!'_ The crazy turtle hissed and backed away leaving her alone.

"What was that?", well, not alone. Recognizing Kurapika's questioning voice, she turned to meet Leorio and Kurapika stunned faces. _'Don't they have pepper sprays in this world?.. Actually, I take that back. If they did have it, there wouldn't be many psychopaths hanging around every corner.'_

"It's a pepper spray. Good for keeping the creeps and the weird gigantic turtles away." She joked giving the can to Kurapika to look at it.

The said boy inspected it with amazement, as he never seen this kind of tool before. He narrowed his eyes at the cover of the can. 

'What language is this?' the letters were weirdly cursive, but strangely kinda similar to their common alphabet.

"Where can I get one of these?" Asked Leorio while sneaking a peek at the can past Kurapika's shoulder.

"Uh.."

She didn't get to answer as more turtles started creeping from the mist.

As he gave the pepper spray can back to Ava —which she put it quickly in her right pocket— Kurapika hissed at them

"Leorio, Ava. I think this is our chance."

They started running again, this time entering a forest. Ava wondered what'll happen next, now that they were lost.Her memories of the early episodes of Hunter x hunter were hazy. Also, it's been a long year since she last watched or read Hunter x hunter, thanks to Togashi's hiatuses.

All of a sudden, Leorio put his two hands in front of them. Looking both confusedly at him, Leorio hissed at them to look, pointing his finger, at something. Or someone.

Hisoka.

Well, at least now she remembered what'll happen next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here is the chapter...  
> Well I made a drawing of Ava but Ao3 doesn't allow inserting pictures through one's phone..and my computer is broken.. so if you were interested and wanted to see it comment and I'll send you the link to my Quotev account where I also post this story, you can see the picture there.


	3. Morals x and x lies

  * **Preview** **of the last chapter:**



**All** o **f a sudden, Leorio put his two hands in front of them, stopping Ava and Kurapika abruptly. Looking both confusedly at him, Leorio hissed at them to look** , **pointing his finger, at something. Or someone. Precisely, someone's back.**

**Hisoka's.**

**Well, at least now she remembered what'll happen next.**

* * *

* * *

A group of stupid men ganged up on Hisoka in a circle. Ava figured they were looking for a fight, as all of them were holding some kind of weapon in their hands, sticks.. pipes. Only one though didn't. A man, with a funny hairdo, stood behind the group, glaring furiously at Hisoka whom a look of uninterest was plastered all over his face. "When I saw you last year," the leader began the talk "I knew you didn't have the qualities of a hunter."

Another man continued: "We'll let you live if you vowed to never enter the hunter exam ever again."

Hisoka smiled. "Sure ♥." The men eyed him perplexedly. "I will pass this year, so there'll be no need to enter the exam again." Hisoka added.

_'Pfff.. Okay. That was smooth.'_ Ava aknowledged. ' _Wait_.. _why am I watching? I should get the hell out of here!'_ She shifted her attention to the two guys standing on her right. "Leorio! Kurapika! Let's go!!" Ava hissed at them, but they didn't answer her, she tried calling them again, this time raising her voice a little, but it was useless. They were entranced. Or bewitched by the scene involving in front of them. She could tell by Leorio's hanging open mouth . Looking back to the group, Ava's heart stopped for a moment when she caught a pair of yellow-colored eyes staring back at her. Already done with the men, Hisoka looked at his new preys. Them.

Ava sneaked a glance at the fallen bodies on the muddy ground. They were _dead._ _'It hasn't been 3 seconds yet! HOW?!' ,_ Ava screamed inwardly as Hisoka took a step towards them. "Sate," Hisoka said staring critically at his new preys, his smile remained on his stoic face as he approached slowly. "Do you want to participate in my judging game? ♠"

Beads of sweat rolled on the trio faces, and shivering thoughts rushed through their minds. Time seemed to stop in every step Hisoka advanced towards them. Ava couldn't decide if the fear was the one making Hisoka's walking look slow, or Hisoka was purposely walking like that. Then a bad thought slided unconsciously into her mind. Was this her end? To die on the hands of Hisoka? Just like these unfortunate men over there?.. NO! There has to be a way!

And like an answer to her prayers, a voice abruptly spoke to them in a whisper.

"Leorio! Ava! Listen!" It was Kurapika, "At my signal, we all go in different directions." He ordered.

"What?" "Huh!", were the intellectual replies he got.

Keeping a hushed tone as he observed the slowly approaching Hisoka, Kurapika explained, "He's really strong. The distance which separates his battle techniques with ours is large. We stand no chance against him. We can't afford to waste time on a useless battle." Ava almost choked at Kurapika's using of words 'useless' and 'waste time'.

The silence he received seemed like an agreement, so Kurapika waited. Leorio waited. And Ava waited with them. All she could do now was to trust Kurapika. There was no need for unnecessary nervousness. After all this was Kurapika. Meanwhile, the said boy kept counting the seconds, watching carefully the slow movement of Hisoka as he brought his right hand to throw his card. "NOW!!"

In a beat, the three of them bolted out of their places to two different directions. Whilst Kurapika, who was on the right, ran to the right side of the hazy forest, Leorio and Ava ran together to the left side, only when they entered the fog that they parted away.

* * *

Hisoka hummed.

"I see.. Wise decision. Hehehe." He chuckled.

It seemed his preys ran away. So then, he should follow them. Out of the three, Hisoka chose to follow the trail of the blond prey, as he looked to be the strongest and smartest out of them. _A good prey to hunt_. Just when Hisoka turned to his left side **( A.N: his left side is Kurapika's right side.)** a shadow crept from the mist. Hisoka stopped and stared narrowingly at the shadow as it approached through the fog until it became clear. It or He was one of his preys. The tall shirtless man with glasses holding a long stick. N°404.

_Interesting._

The said man glared at him through his foggy glasses, his brown-colored eyes even though were clear.

"I just can't.." The prey spoked "Maybe this isn't my battle, but I just can't close my eyes and.. RUN AWAY FLEEDING!" He spitted irritatingly at Hisoka.

The prey then dashed with all his power to Hisoka's direction, screaming angrily at the same time. Meanwhile, Hisoka was relishing the determined expression awning his prey's eyes.

"What a look you've got on your face.♥" A sly smile played across Hisoka's lips as he stood in his place waiting.

The first one to attack was Leorio, he swung his stick at Hisoka, but like the fog surrounding the Marsh, the stick passed through him.

Hisoka disappeared.

"Wha-?!" Not expecting his disappearance, Leorio lost his balance and slipped. As he was falling, Hisoka suddenly appeared in a motion behind him, and drew his hands nearer towards Leorio's neck. The latter's eyes widened at the view. Leorio was gonna be KILLE-.. Just before Hisoka's hand touched Leorio, something shot at Hisoka and hit him in the face making him stop.

Leorio then switched his gaze to his savior. Across of them, not far, stood a spiky haired boy with green clothes on, the kid was panting slightly clutching with his hands what seemed like a fishing pole. Leorio's eyes widened at the kid.. It was-..

"GON!!" Leorio called at the kid.

Hisoka's head turned to Gon's direction, face still smiling.

"You're not bad. Boy-a♥ " Hisoka purred. Gon flinched. Hisoka turned his full attention to his new guest (prey), eyes analyzing his attire. "Is that a fishing pole? What a peculiar weapon.♥" Hisoka complimented.

He was intrigued.

Behind him, Leorio was still laying on the ground.

"Let me take a look." Hisoka advanced towards Gon. It's at this moment that Leorio finally got up.

Not wanting Hisoka to hurt Gon, he dashed to Hisoka again screaming, "Your opponent is.. ME!!"

Hisoka Punched him hard. Or that what was supposed to happen, as Leorio suddenly fell to his back on the ground before Hisoka's fist tasted his cheek.

Slightly confused, Hisoka looked behind Leorio and found out.. another kid staring back at him. The kid was holding Leorio's necktie, and the kid was one of his preys from before. What most important is that Hisoka hadn't notice the kid presence.

From when was he here?

Hisoka's smile didn't falter. This was getting more interesting.

_'Well...Screw me.'_ Ava's hold on Leorio's necktie tightened as she kept staring blankly at Hisoka. ' _How did it come to this?'_

* * *

_ •Flashback• _

Whilst Kurapika, who was on the right, ran to the right side of the hazy forest, Leorio and Ava ran together to the left side. Only when they entered the fog that they parted away.

As Ava darted between the trees, she kept thinking about what just happened. Her mind hadn't still absorbed the whole idea of superpowers and hit-kill thing going on here. She just witnessed the murder of a group of people! All killed by one person! Oh! whithout mentioning she also saw a humongous turtle swallowing a poor man alive like juice! _'What am I even running for? Stop!'_ Ava suddenly stopped. Admist her thinking, she realized she could have saved those guys. Maybe she wouldn't fight Hisoka with them, 'cause that's just stupid, but perhaps with a shout of warning they could've listened to her and avoided fighting Hisoka. Because she _knew_ that they were die. ' _But he would've kill them otherwise.'_ Argued her inner-self. Also she couldn't remember much of the events at that time. Her mind went blank when her eyes saw Hisoka. Even back at home, whenever she was put on a kind of uncomfortable pressure, her mind abruptly shut down.

She put her hand on the bridge of her nose and sighed heavily. She couldn't have a panic fit right now! She needed to calm down and replay all the events from the show. She needed to remember what'll happen next. ' _Okay. Kurapika and Leorio drift apart from the group and stumble upon Hisoka, I remember that. Hisoka.. kills the men trying to fight him. That happened, unfortunately. Then they both ran away for him. Okay. Okay. What's next? What?what?what?.. Oh! Yes! Leorio returns to fight Hisoka and-WAIT! What?!'_ Leorio goes back? Why? ' _Just concentrate! Remember! Leorio returns to fight Hisoka. Hisoka tries to attack him. Then.. Then.. Gon comes and saves him.'_ Eventually Ava remembered the upcoming scene, as it was, for her, one of the many keys of hunter x hunter complicated story. ' _Gon meets Hisoka. That's how they met! Right! Gon passes Hisoka test or something. Leorio gets punched... Punched?!'_

_Yep_. That's right. Leorio got a nasty punch when he was just trying to defend his morals. Unlike her or Kurapika, his pride as a human couldn't let him run away from a killer without a fight. Unlike Ava, his morality came first. That's why, maybe, he passed Hisoka's test. That's what differenciate Leorio from the others. He wasn't selfish. Was Ava selfish? Would she be selfish if she left Leorio to his demise. She wasn't powerful or strong. And even if she wanted to help, does it really matter? It was just a punch. At least, Hisoka didn't kill him. Ava wanted to convince herself that they were all just fictional characters, but they were not. No! She couldn't just leave Leorio getting punched,when she already knew what would happen to him. That was.. that was immoral. She owed Leorio for keeping her backbag safe. Yes that's right! She owed him. Anyone on his place (except Gon) would've get rid of it. But he kept it, and gave it back to her. Not expecting Ava to give anything back. Leorio wasn't selfish, and so was Ava.

She turned, and dashed again through the trees on the same way she came from. When she arrived to the scene, she didn't appear herself. No. She kept hidden in the fog and watched. Ava waited and analyzed the scene in front of her. Leorio was still laying down on the ground, but his cheeks seemed both fine from what she can see from her place. So Hisoka hadn't punched him yet. Ok. That was good. She wasn't late. She shifted her gaze then to Hisoka who wasn't facing her side but rather turning his head to the right side. She followed his gaze. And there he was. Slightly panting, a spiky haired boy with big brown eyes wearing his habitual green vest, shorts, boots.. and holding in his hands his characteristic fishing pole.

Gon.

"Not bad. Boy-a♥" Hisoka purred at Gon. Ava flinched.

' _Okay. Pedophile much.'_

Still in the mist, she started planning out her 'saving Leorio from getting punched' plan. She figured out Gon could help her. No not the Gon in front of her, but Gon from the screen. She remembered Gon's training for hunting Hisoka's badge. First, Hisoka's entire attention has to be on another person. That was easy. There was Gon. Second, she needed to wait for an opening when Hisoka moves towards Gon. An opening to save Leorio not to fight Hisoka of course. That was her plan but there was a tiny little small problem. Gon in the screen could do Zetsu. She couldn't. Ava didn't have animal instincts like Gon, nor she had opened her Nen. Maybe she didn't even have Nen. She was a stranger to this world. An alien!

Ava shook her head, she couldn't give up on her plan now. She would just have to risk it and move quietly behind Leorio in an angle where Hisoka couldn't see her.

Ava began to crawl slowly on the ground. Despite her shivering hands and sweaty forehead, she peeked at Hisoka through her lashes. He was still occupied by Gon. He didn't notice her! Or maybe he did and didn't show it? Ava gulped. Surprisingly Leorio who was one meter far from her hadn't notice her yet. She was close to him.

"Is that a fishing pole? What a peculiar weapon.♥" Hisoka said to Gon as he took a step towards him. Uh-oh. "Let me take a look." That did it, as Leorio suddenly got up and ran to Hisoka waving his stick at him. Taken by surprise, Ava changed the plan, and ran also behind him. Her short and small figure hidden purposely behind Leorio's tall one.

"Your opponent is.. ME!!" Leorio screamed with irritation. Already predicting the abrupt punch, Ava swiftly grabbed Leorio by his necktie before Hisoka's fist could've even touch him. Taken by surprise, Leorio fell on his back with a yelp.

' _Well.. Screw me.'_ Ava's hold on Leorio's necktie tightened as she kept staring blankly at Hisoka. ' _How did it come to this?'_

_ •End of flashback• _

* * *

Ava found herself in a dilemma. This wasn't how she planned things. She thought she'll enter the scene quietly, save the still laying on the ground Leorio while Hisoka is distracted with Gon, and BAAM! She would ran away quickly with Leorio or crawl back. She didn't know he would get up and try to fight him again!.. Well, she maybe knew but didn't remember.

Hisoka surprisingly hadn't moved from his place at all. He was still looking down at her with a smile, then suddenly he crouched at her height. Ava crawled back, keeping her distance from him. As she moved away, a plonk sound came out of her right pocket. Her right pocket?..

_Oh._

The pepper spray.

"You came back for your friend. How kind of you. Hehe♥". Ava gulped. This wasn't looking good. Feeling Leorio about to get up again, her right hand left his necktie trembling, and found itself moving slowly to her pocket.

Out of the blue, a pole passed through Hisoka as he dissipated again like a mirage. Gon who tried attacking him jumping landed on the ground next to her. His big brown eyes widening with surprise, so as Ava's.

Hisoka reappeared crouching behind Gon. "Did you come to save you friends too?"

Gon swung his fishing pole again at Hisoka before he dispersed as second time. Ava by that time had taken the pepper spray can from her pocket and hid it behind her.

It wasn't until Hisoka grabbed Gon by his neck and tried to choke him, that she finally got up from the ground, and showed the pepper spray, directing it to Hisoka.

"Well," Hisoka eye-sided Ava. "What are you holding in your hand?"

Ava lied. "This is uh.. a poison spray!"

Ava almost winced at her lack of creativity. ' _Hope he won't catch my lie.'_

Hisoka chuckled. Yep. He saw through her lie.

"I'm not lying. The moment I spray you with this,the poison will enter your breathing system. Give it a second and you'll be paralysed." Ava spat out. She purposely looked at Hisoka in the eye, showing confidence in her own. "Get away from him." She ordered while glancing at Gon's paling face. "Or Die."

Hisoka's smiling face fell as he narrowed his eyes at the can on her hands. Ava could almost feel the hesitation in his eyes.

Yes, Hisoka could feel her lying, since He was a transmuter . But even he couldn't deny the possibility that maybe she was telling the truth, which Ava wasn't. But he didn't _Know._ Ava was quite confident in her acting skills to assure he didn't.

Eventually, Hisoka let go of Gon. The boy dropped out on the ground and breathed out the air while coughing.

Ava would've let a breath of relief, but Hisoka was still there, and he was staring creepily at her.

_'What the-!!'_

In a flash, a card hit the pepper spray can she was holding, and made the pepper stored in it came out. Ava, taken by surprise, dropped the can. ' _So he didn't really believe me. Tch.'_

Ava looked back at Hisoka terrified. He had disappeared.

All of a sudden, Ava felt as a strong fist punched her in the cheek.

She made out Leorio's shouting her name before she blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we get done with the first phase plz...


	4. Challenges x and x fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter y'all. Hope you like it more than l do.

At first, there was darkness.

Then the smell of dirt and grass entered through her drowsy mind to bring her back from pitch black unconsciousness.

As her eyes slowly opened, streaks of sunlight penetrated through her lashes and blinded them. Everything was blurry. For a second, she didn't know who or where she was.

Until suddenly, she felt a painful sting on her left cheek. As she brought her hand to touch her cheek —which was very swollen—like a lightning bolt, she was then strucked by a flash of memories rushing through her mind.

_'Oh. Yeah... I was punched by Hisoka.'_ Ava recalled... _'Damn.'_ Even saying in it her mind sounded weird. Ava was always the pacifist type, never participated before in a fight, nor she had plans to. She had been hit before, accidentally or not, but never been punched. To think the honor of having the first punch was given to Hisoka. _And what a punch it was! Ow!_

Trying not to move her head, Ava glanced at her surrounding... And why wasn't she surprised to see another crowd of people in front of her? Why in everytime she wakes up she finfs herself surrounded by people?—This time less people, all standing in front of a big... Castle? Keyword: standing, as Ava was the only one sitting under a tree. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

_'How did I get here?'_

At the same time, a masculine voice called out to her.

"Ava!!"

The said girl looked to the voice's direction, narrowing her eyes slightly at the three familiar figures approaching her tree. And who do ya think it was other than Leorio and Kurapika... and Gon.

While they were on their way to her, Ava half wondered how did she look like now. _'Probably like shit.'_ She scoffed.With a round face as hers and Hisoka's _lovely gift_ on her cheek she must look like she had literally grown two heads... Is it weird to say that the image of that made her chuckle a little? Hisoka's gift should've also done something to her lame sense of humor.

Ava straightened up a little bit when the three arrived at her tree. She looked at their exhausted faces then smiled at them through her swollen cheek.

"Hey. How are ya doing?"

All the three of them looked at her like she was a sociopath, yeah even Gon looked at her funny.

"HEY??!.. Wha—? How are YOU doing?" Leorio exploded while pointing a finger at her.

Ignoring the finger close to her head, Ava noticed they were looking at the left side of her face. Her left cheek. So, she was right. She must really look like shit right now. Probably that's why Leorio went mad, and the two others are eying her strangely. Now they made her really curious. For the love of God, could someone give her a mirror?

"I'm alright. It doesn't hurt too much." Ava lied through her teeth. _It hurt like bitc—_

Leorio didn't look convinced but he surprisingly didn't push more on the subject. Maybe because he was exhausted from running around. Nevertheless Ava sighed in relief.

_Wait a second..._

"How did you guys find me?" Ava asked them.

From what she could remember, After Hisoka punched Leorio, he took him and went to the place of the second phase (this place). Then Gon and Kurapika could follow them because Gon had a great smell instinct, and because Leorio wears cologne.

For her information, Ava didn't wear cologne. Nor she had met Gon for more than an hour for him to be familiar with her scent or something.

"By your smell!" Gon was the one who answered.

Her smell?— Did she stink? Was that Gon's innocent way of saying she was smelly?

Seeing the confusion written on Ava's face, Kurapika stepped to explain. "When you sprayed the turtle before with the.. can, probably some of the pepper smell stuck on you. We followed the trail of the scent. Of course Leorio and I couldn't perceive that kind of vague odor. But.." Kurapika glanced at Gon, "Gon can."

Hearing his name, Gon stepped up towards Ava and held his hand to her. "I'm Gon. Nice to meet you Ava." He beamed at her. His big eyes with honey color brightened.

Ava blinked. She definitely didn't expect the main protagonist to be introducing himself to her anytime but whatever. She brought her hand to shake his as as her lips curved into a gentle smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Gon."

With all Kurapika's explaining, Ava still couldn't understand one thing though. She looked at Kurapika with a puzzled expression as she told him. "That doesn't explain how I got here."

"So you don't remember what happened?" Asked Kurapika.

"Well.. I remember getting punched, but after that I–.. I think I blacked out or something."

The three of them instantly exchanged looks. Ava narrowed her eyes at them in suspicion. _Weird._

Before any of them could explain what happened, a cheerful voice interrupted their conversation.

"Gon!!"

Gon, of course, looked behind him to search for the person calling him. And guess who it was.

"Killua!!" Gon shouted back.

They both advanced towards each other. Ava glanced curiously at their direction, wanting to get a look at Killua, but Gon was blocking her view. C'mon, it's not like you got to see real white haired ex-assassin kids every now and often, you know.

"Minnasan, congratulations to those of you who managed to get out of the Marshes alive and well!" Satotz's voice earned her attention so as everyone's. He was standing in front of the castle's gates as he declared, "You are now in the _Biska woods_ , the place where the second round will take place."

Looking a last time at the participants, he wished them luck for the next part of their trials, before marching out to the forest, his presence disappearing within its darkness.

' _Woohoo! I made it.'_ Ava started celebrating in her mind, then she remembered that this was only the first part of the exam and there were many rounds coming around—dangerous ones— and went back to her depression mode. How many phases were there again? Ugh.

Ava got up from her place when the gates finally opened allowing the participants to enter and get a look at what is inside.

Ava followed the group from behind.

"May the candidates who passed the first round enter please." A feminine voice spoke.

Far away, in front of the castle door, two figures stood out to the crowd.

"Welcome. I'm the judge for the second round, Menchi." Announced a green haired girl sitting comfortably on a sofa leg on leg with a smile. Behind her an enormous round figure of a man continued their introduction. "I'm the second judge, Buhara."

A deafening silence weighed on the group, trying to defy the upcoming nervousness. Ava, was for one, amazed by Buhara's humongous height. He was gigantic! Even his clothes couldn't contain him as his belly button showed. Ava then shifted her gaze down at Menchi. Her hair wasn't green colored exactly, it was kinda between an aquamarine and carribean green color. Ava pondered for a half second if it was dyed, but since she was in an anime the odds would be that it was a natural hair color.

Then out of the blue, a loud growling sound interrupted the was-ongoing silence.

"Wha– what is that noise?"

Menchi peeked at Buhara. "So, you hungry?"

"You bet! I'm starving!"Buhara replied.

Standing up, Menchi marched towards the candidates confidently. "Therefore, the theme for the second trial will be.." She raised her index dramatically, ".. _Cooking_!"

Another layer of stunning silence weighed on the crowd. Ava suppressed herself from laughing out loud when she saw the oblivious shock on the Leorio and Kurapika's faces as she was standing next to them.

_'Ha! Bet even Hisoka wasn't expecting Cooking for a challenge!'_

Eventually, the silenting shock dispersed and the participants snapped.

"C- Cooking?!!"

"Wait a minute, did ya just say _cooking?_ We're here for the hunter exam!"

Menchi however didn't falter. "That's right. The challenge you'll be facing in the second trial will be making a dish that'll get us impressed."

"Why do we have to cook?" Asked the undercut blond ponytail man again.

Menchi and Buhara simultaneously smirked.

"That's because we are... _The Gourmet Hunters!_ "

" ·········."

"PUHAHAHAHA!" The ponytail man abruptly laughed. The guys around him also started snickering and joking about their hunter job.

"Gourmet hunter she said, Hehe!"

"Taku, what a disappointment."

Menchi's eye twitched, her smirk turning into an angry frown.

Ava sweatdropped at their clear lack of respect. She was pretty sure they didn't even know what their job meant. Also laughing at your exam's judge who can easily disqualify you was not a clever move to say. She was really surrounded by idiots.

"So, _Gourmet hunters.."_ The ponytail man spoke mockingly, "What do we have to cook?"

Menchi, probably still angry at their disrespect, let Buhara answer. The said man stood up from his place, his feet pounding heavily on the ground.

"The desired meal is... Pork meat." Buhara told the group.

"Pork meat?"

"Ara we going to cook the meat?"

' _No. You'll feed it to them raw.'_ Ava thought sarcastically. If only she had a device she could use to skip those stupid questions.

Ignoring himself the obvious questions, Buhara continued. "You have the freedom to pick the type of pigs that live in the _Biska woods._ "

Buhara pointed at the tables surrounding the candidates. "You have to use the kitchen tools given to you to cook the meal." There were many ingredients on the tables, kitchen knives, vegetables..etc. hmmm... Knives, huh?

"You'll pass this round only if the dish gained our satisfaction both." Buhara stated.

Menchi who had been silent for the whole time added without looking at the crowd. "We'll also examine more than the taste. Don't understimate the complications of cooking."

She then looked with furrowed eyebrows at the participants. "Capiche?"

"We'll eat until we're full. That's when the trial will end."

"Wakatta, wakatta." The ponytail man still in the mocking mode waved at her dismissely. "Just let us begin."

"Then, the second trial of the exam had-..." Buhara hit his visible stomach resulting to a drum-kinda sound to come out. ".. -Started!!"

In a heartbeat, all the participants rushed to the woods. No one wanted to be left behind. Ava still tired from all the marathons she has been doing today followed the crowd from behind.

* * *

Ava sighed in relief when she saw the group of participants still looking for the pigs. When she arrived to the forest a little bit late she was worried they might had already found them. She also unfortunately lost the trail of Leorio and Kurapika in the run. Knowing them perhaps they had already found the pigs. Ok, now Ava really needed a plan, she somehow remembered the pigs being carnivores. She also remembered their weakness. But what the use of all this information if she didn't have the power to hit their weaknesses. If only she still had her pepper spray, she would just spray them in their big eyes, hit them behind their humongous noses and that was it. ' _Damn you Hisoka!'_ Ava cursed Hisoka in her head.

Shaking her head, Ava turned her attention to the participants surroundings her, some of them were familiar like that baldie over there and others were anonymous. But all of them were searching clumsily between the trees. A thought shot through Ava's head. Why weren't any of them using the trees to look for the pigs? A higher height would positively give more results to the search (or was it hunting?). Like Hanzo was a ninja and he was looking behind the trees. ' _Dude you're a ninja. You should be looking from up the trees not behind them.'_ Ava sweatdropped at him when he started calling out the pigs like they were come to him if he did that. Definitely the 'a ninja has to look underneath the underneath' saying didn't imply on Hanzo, Ava was sure.

Well, if they weren't gonna climb up those trees, she would do it in their places. Right now the ground wasn't the best place to be in, when there was a full group of pigs going to come this way.

Ava began climbing a tree next to her carefully, putting with caution her bare feet between the long branches. She wasn't that good at climbing, she actually had a small fear of heights, well not heights exactly, but falling from heights. Ava didn't like the pain that would come of it. But at the worse times Ava knew she gotta do what she gotta do.

When Ava stood up on one of the branches, she brought her hand up her eyes and started searching for any trace of pink, oblivious to the many odd and mocking stares and whispers she had been getting.

_'Why is he up the tree? Didn't know the pigs live on the trees.'_

_'That's why they shouldn't let the children enter the exam, they're stupid. They'll only get themselves killed.'_

_'Found them!'_

Oh! The last one wasn't one of the whispers. It was Ava. Taking advantage of the convenient height, she finally spotted the pigs. And they were racing rather very quickly towards them. And was that Leorio running from them? Ava couldn't tell, they were far from her.

Now what? Should Ava stay on the tree or go back down to the ground? Wait, why would she even think that, of course she would stay on the tree, she didn't wanna get smashed by one of those pigs. And speaking of pigs, should she warn those idiots under her about the flock of pink swines scooting towards them? She would probably save many butts out of getting buttheaded by pigs.

But before Ava could warn the others one of the participants below her yelled while pointing with his finger.

"What is that?"

Everyone looked to what the guy was pointing at. Not afar, a whole herd of gigantic pink swines were racing with full speed towards them. And the pigs looked angry.

All the participants began running away from the flock, except Ava, of course, who was still on the tree. The said girl regretted her slight hesitation when it came to warning the others, when she saw a man getting buttheaded by one of the pigs. Ava realized her sudden hesitation was because she unconsciously knew that if all the participants lived, or at least survived, the chances for her to get a pig would diminish, cause all of the pigs would be taken by them. She tried calling herself average or normal, but in this world she was weak, maybe even the weakest. She was for a half second selfish because she was afraid she would fail.

Selfish.

Ava grimaced.

Through her thoughts, Ava noticed one of the pigs bordering a guy. A predator and a prey, only this time the actors play opposite roles. Ava could hear the shaking voice of the man as the big pig advanced towards him with angry eyes.

This was her chance to redeem herself. Ava glanced around her for something to throw at the pig. All she found around were leaves and.. apples.. Hmmm.. Those pigs had a very sensitive area behind their noses, right?

Picking an apple from the tree, and with a glimpse full of concentration, Ava pitched the apple precisely at the pigs forehead. _And it was... A home run!! Or was it a strike? Whatever.._ The pig jiggled in a bizarre way before falling on her back like a turtle. Taking his chance, the scared guy bolted out of the scene.

Ava slowly descended the tree, and approached the pig. Looking closely at the pig, it kinda low-key reminded her of Peppa pig. A humongous fat angry carnivorous version of it.

Come to think of it, this was surprisingly very easy. No biting, no running, no screaming. Ava was suspicious for a second. Maybe the luck was finally coming to her side. Finally! Smiled Ava while looking at the pig.

_Wait_..

Her smile fell.

_How would she carry the pig?_

It was like 15 times her size and possibly 30 times her weight. Ava was just a scrawny little girl with little muscle to add. How would she carry it? How? She didn't think of that. ' _Shit.'_ Who said the luck was coming to her side again?

Ava looked analytically at the pig, forcing her brain to find a solution. She glanced at the people around her and Holy x Shit! People were actually carrying the pigs on top of their heads while running. Ava's mouth hanged open but she quickly closed it. This wasn't the time to be awed by this world's craziness. She was gonna be left behind.

Think!

Ava's eyes widened as an idea came to her.

Maybe.. maybe she could roll the pig! It already had the round shape of a ball.. it could be possible.. Right? But wouldn't be too heavy for Ava to roll it? Well, she would at least try.

Putting her hands on it, she pushed with all her might forcing her bare feet on the ground and.. it rolled!

The pig actually wasn't that heavy like she had expected. But still heavy to not carry it on top her head.

Ava kept pushing the pig, and in pursuit of it rolled in consequence. Some of the guys passing her snickered at her. Ava ignored them, after all the last one who gets to laugh.

She didn't notice though when Leorio suddenly ran next to her, a big pig on top of his head like the others.

"Want me to help you with that?" Leorio asked.

Ava appreciated Leorio's kindness, but the last thing she wanted right now was pity. He probably thought she was struggling with the pig since she wasn't carrying it like the other participants, and to be honest, she was! But that would just make her look pathetic. Ava hated being called pathetic. She was called that many times before in her world, and she didn't want to be called that here, especially by a characte—someone she kinda like or admire. So Ava looked at Leorio and replied to his helping request by..

"No thanks. I'm fine."

Her pride wouldn't let her answer him positively no matter what the situation was.

Leorio stared dumbfounded at Ava. He didn't expect no for an answer. The kid was clearly exausted, without mentioning the nasty punch he got from Hisoka the bastard. Leorio couldn't understand why Ava was refusing his request, he was just trying to help him, like when the kid had come to his help before.

Noticing Leorio still standing behind her, Ava said with a confident tone.

"It's okay Leorio, I got it. Shouldn't you be going now, Kurapika'll probably ditch you."

"AAh! That's right! He's still waiting for me!" Leorio blurted out loudly.

What the?

So Kurapika was really waiting for him? Ava thought she was just bluffing to convince Leorio to go.

"See! You need to go. Don't worry! I'll be just behind you." Ava smiled at Leorio assuringly.

Something twisted in Leorio's face, before he gave one last look at Ava and continued his run.

Ava sighed heavily, and went back to pushing the pig again. There was still a long way in front of her.

I got it, she said.

She didn't want to look pathetic, she said.

_'Just.. just screw me.'_

* * *

A la fin, Ava arrived at the castle.

Fortunately, the participants were still roasting the pork. That meant that the judging hadn't started yet. _Good_. Ava let out a sigh of relief. She had been sighing a lot lately.

"Ava! Here!" A voice called out to her.

Looking for the person calling her name, a smile pulled on her lips when she saw Leorio waving at her from afar. She spotted Kurapika and Gon too next to him.

Pushing the pig again, she approached the trio.

Leorio helped her put the pig on the roaster. Ava then let herself relax as she waited like the others for the pig to get roasted. She wondered how the hell they were gonna eat a pig this big. It probably wouldn't taste good, and would still be raw from the inside because of its volume. Since no one from the participants actually knew anything about cooking, they would probably serve the judges the pork meat either raw and wasn't roasted enough, or burnt to the crisp. Well, Ava remembered, there was another test after this so there was need to worry about passing this test. What was the other test about again? She had to be ready this time.

Ava's eyes widened as her was-relaxed shoulders went stiff.

No way! They were going to fall of a –a cliff! What the—?

_Hell Nah! She wasn't going to do that, not in million years._ She had a fear of falling from high heights. Actually, scratch that, even if she hadn't that fear, she would never jump of a cliff. Never. She would fall to her death. Ava wasn't like these gymnastics wannabe super crazy people.

But how then would she pass the trial if she couldn't jump? That's it. She failed.

Ava wanted to scream and yell at those judges in front of her for choosing the most deadliest trials ever. Couldn't she ever get a break?

' _What if there was another way to pass the trial without falling from a mountain?'_ Ava pondered for a second. Maybe there was a way. Then a sudden realization struck her.

_'I'm so stupid.'_ The answer was in front of her the whole time. Instead of focusing on the next event, she had to concentrate first on the test that she was in now. Unconsciously, Ava, in her head, had already failed herself in this test, but that wasn't it. She hadn't failed, yet. Perhaps if she passed this cooking test, she wouldn't have to jump of a mountain.

Deciding to try her best on this test, Ava quickly grabbed a knife from the table and began cutting some of the pork.

* * *

The first participant to present his dish to the judges was the rude ponytail man. The way he advanced towards them with a smirk radiated confidence. Menchi raised her eyebrows at his so-called dish.

The pork was roasted to the bone, the burn smell was an enough evidence of that. The guy didn't even try to cut the head nor the tail, he brought the whole pig. It was obviously clear that he didn't even try. Menchi clenched her jaw.

On the other hand, Buhara was enjoying the meat, he even gave the participant his approval by raising a plank with an O in it.

The participant nodded his head at him smirking.

Menchi wasn't having any of that. The plank she raised had a red X on it.

"It's cooked more than needed, the dry skin spoiled the meat's good taste." Menchi said to the guy with a frown.

"Nani!! You didn't even taste it!"

Menchi snapped. "It's clear as the sun!"

Having no other choice, the participant tch-ed and went back to his table.

The next candidate was a tall bald man who stepped towards the judges with a confident grin.

"Saa.... Taste it!" He put the dish in front of them.

It didn't look that much different from the one before him. Buhara, of course, gave his approval, while Menchi gave him the X.

"Heh!! Why?!"

Menchi stared at the pork with criticizing eyes. "Burnt from the outside and raw from the inside. Your cooking fire was too hot."

He went back to his table frowning.

The same thing was for the other participants. The same dish they gave to them. And the same rating they got. The only person who was actually happy was Buhara.

' _Mattaku! All they did was roast the pork like they know how to do it. No one of them made a slight effort.'_ Menchi's right eye twitched.

"Chotto! Is no one of you able to satisfy my taste?"

* * *

"No one passed yet." Leorio stated. His roasted pork was put on his table in front of him.

"And Menchi hadn't even tried one bite." Kurapika added. Then an abrupt realization hit him. "Ah!"

Gon and Leorio looked at him.

Kurapika began to explain. "This part from the exam is about cooking, but the judges rate our dishes depending on our creativity and observation."

"I don't think that."

Shifting their attention to the voice's source, the trio didn't expect the one interrupting them to be Ava.

Kurapika narrowed his eyes at Ava curiously. "What do you mean?"

Ava pointed at the pork laying on the table. "Just like you said, this trial is about cooking. And that's right that the judges rate us on our observation. But even the most artistic decoration will fail with a lousy taste. The judges want us to get creative with the taste of the meat not with its appearance, you know." Ava explained.

Kurapika furrowed his eyebrows at her. "Wait... That doesn't make sense."

"Yeah! Why would they make the test about taste? We're not chefs!" Leorio exclaimed. "We're hunters!"

Gon, next to them, nodded agreeably.

Ava pursed her lips. _Fine!_ If they weren't gonna listen to her, that was fine. They had a re-test next so she probably shouldn't even intervene. Screw her and her dumb babbling mouth.

Ava should instead focus on her dish. She was already done with it. Ava was no Gordan Ramsey, but she had been bingewatching all Master Chief seasons before in her world, and she picked some shit about cooking from it. Not that Ava was interested in cooking, she just wanted to see the delicious dishes.

Ava at least could say she made an effort on the taste and the decoration, unlike the others. Now all left was waiting for the right moment to present her dish. Ava predicted the last second would be the best chance. She knew Menchi had been kinda hoping for good meals from the participants at the beginning, but as more and more dishes were put in front of her, only disappointment painted her face. Her expectations were getting lower. _That was good_. Using the failures of others to success was a selfish thing to do, but hey! At least they have got the re-test.

Looking back to the others, she found out Leorio was already gone to the judges with his pork. Kurapika was working with full concentration on his dish, while Gon was.. Gon was decorating his dish with flowers.

"Er.. Gon!"

Gon instantly turned to her. "Yes?"

Ava didn't know how to ask him. "How is— I mean, why are you putting flowers on the pork?"

"Hm?" Gon glanced at his dish before looking back at her. "Don't worry! I tested those flowers. They're edible to eat." He smiled at her, then turned back to his decorating process.

Ava sweatdropped at the green boy. Ignoring the part of him testing random flowers, she wondered from where did he get the apron he was wearing.

Eventually, Leorio came back with an irritated expression on his face. Gon went next, he came back rather very fast. Then Kurapika's turn had come and he approached the judges with his fancy-kinda like dish. The face Kurapika came back with yelled the epitome of devastation.

Ava suppressed herself from yelling 'I told you' out loud at them.

"Ne, Ava. Isn't your turn now?" Leorio asked pointing at the pork on her table.

Ava hummed in response. She then went to the pork's direction, and brought from behind it a small dish.

"Wait! You're gonna present to them that!" Leorio pointed rudely at her dish. The other two approached her too to peek at what Ava made.

Ava just blinked funnily at Leorio before stepping towards the judges.

* * *

Menchi was mad. At first she was very excited to taste the meals the participants would be cooking, but over time the interest dispersed, and all was left was anger. She overstimated them. How could they believe that they could become hunters when they were very arrogant and narrow minded? This cooking test was supposed to be the the trial of open minded creativity, its goal was to examine the candidates will to try new things, new experiences. But no one of them had still made an effort. Maybe, that's it. No one of them should pass. They weren't worthy of becoming hunters.

Menchi narrowed her eyes as a small figure approached them. A kid holding in his hand a small dish instead of a whole pig. Menchi stared at him as he put the dish on their table and stepped away.

Menchi then glanced critically at the meal. A piece of pork meat was put at the center of the plate. A single professional peek at it was enough to make that it was medium-cooked. It was simply garnished with cherry tomatoes and Tarragon on top. It looked to be an ordinary meal, not something extraordinary, but still seemed edible. Unlike the other dishes who were full plain roasted porks.

Taking a bite from the meat with her fork, Menchi closed her eyes trying to come to a decision.

The meat was a little more salty than it should have, the sides were cooked almost perfectly but you can taste a little rawness on the inside. A bitter taste was well purposely hidden behind the cherry tomatoes sweetness but it was still there. Menchi knew a beginner when she sees him. Her decision was torn between her professional side and her food-loving side.

Menchi opened her eyes, she came to a decision.

* * *

_'Why is she taking so damn long?'_

It'sbeen like 2 minutes since Menchi had tried the meat and she was still closing her eyes thinking. Ava was tired from standing.

Maybe the taste was so bad that Menchi was taking her time thinking for a good way to banish Ava from existence, who knows?

Finally, Menchi opened her eyes. Ava's heart pounded very fast in her chest. ' _Please, no falling from cliffs! Please no falling from cliffs! Please no—"_ Aa pleaded repeatedly in her head.

Menchi raised the plank.

"You... " Ava stiffened as Menchi raised the plank. It had an... O? "... Pass!"

Huh?

She passed?

"I was kinda hopeful for a bigger meat.." Buhara started but Menchi glared at him. ".. But I'll give you my pass too. Congratulations! You passed the second trial." Buhara smiled at her.

Ava really passed!

Pheww!!

Menchi then stood up from the sofa.

"I announce the end of the second phase of the hunters exam. Qualified: 1." Menchi loudly declared.

A bitter tone layered on the crowd sombering them up.

"Only one person passed?!"

"She must be joking!"

"Is this really the end of the trial?!"

Suddenly, a loud blasting sound of something smashed resonated through the whispers, cutting the tension.

Todo glared at Menchi. "I will never accept this!"

"Even though, you still failed."

"Stop mocking me!!" Todo yelled at her angrily. "You asked for pork meat, and we even risked our lives—"

"I asked for cooked pork meat that both of us would find delicious." Menchi interrupted him. "And only one of you made something edible."

Cue Ava, who already stepped away from the sights and hid awkwardly behind Buhara's huge figure watching the events unfolding in front of her like someone from behind the scenes.

"You did the same thing over and over again. You didn't even try to make an effort." Menchi continued while looking at the participants with meaningful eyes. "And when I thought someone had tried, it seemed that he only changed the appearance" she probably meant Kurapika by the last sentence, Ava thought.

"No one tried to confirm the taste. I'm pretty sure that none of you tried to cook seriously!" Ava could the sense the disappointment and the frustration in Menchi's voice.

Ava thought that no one would complain after this full-argumentative speech, but so this world can prove her wrong, stupid people existed, a.k.a Hanzo.

"Pork meat dishes are all the same." Hanzo complained weakly.

He didn't last a chance before Menchi grabbed him and exploded. "Come again you twerp? Spit an imbecile word again from your mouth and I'll beat the shit out of you 'til Sunday! Don't mock me you bastard! I don't wanna hear any word from a rookie group who can't even roast pork properly! Oi! Why aren't you speaking? Why don't you treat what you just said to me?!"

Ava peeked behind Buhara to witness the hilarious scene happening. She bursted in laughter when she spotted the horrified look on Hanzo's face. ' _Maan...Hanzo is such a comic relief.'_ He looked like he really regretted talking at all. That's what happened when you babble too much without thinking.

Menchi then shoved Hanzo before sitting back in her sofa. Her earlier demeanor almost vanishing. Ava half wondered if she was bipolar or something.

"In other words," she concluded, "you don't have the will to try something new."

"SHUT UP!" Todo snapped at her. "I'm not here to be a chef nor a Gourmet. A hunter is what I wanna be!"

The others behind him agreed instantly, like a minion following its leader.

"A black-list Hunter at that! I want a real test, not this prissy Gourmet Hunter crap!" He added.

"Sorry to hear that."

"Huh?"

Menchi stared at him with cold eyes. A sarcastic tone weighing her speech. "Yeah, 'cause this year Gourmet Hunter crap rules. Good luck next year!"

Ava saw the guy's face turn red before dashing with an outraged cry towards Menchi, not expecting to be slapped by Buhara. The powerful impact of the slap threw out the guy until the gates of the caste, and made Ava, who was behind Buhara the whole time, fall on the ground because of the air pressure. The slap was abrupt. But she quickly stood up brushing the embarrassment since no one actually saw her.

"Buhara... I don't recall asking for your help." Menchi said coldly.

"But.." Buhara looked down at her, "If I hadn't stepped in, you would've killed him."

Menchi humph-ed at him. ".. Maybe." She showed a pair of knives which were hidden behind the sofa. She descended the stairs waving the knives in the air like she don't care.

"Let me make one thing clear, rare foods are often obtainable only in remote inhospitable places.. and we are frequently called on to run down and capture poachers." Another pair of knives popped out and she waved them like it's nothing. Ava wanted to see this knives performance from the front. " Doesn't matter what kind of hunter you aim to be.. you've gotta be proficient in the martial arts, they have to become second nature for you, as does the burning desire to challenge the unknown! That's what I seek in each of you."

**"THAT'S ONE EXPLANATION, BUT DOES IT JUSTIFY SUCH SEVERITY?"**

Everyone, including Ava, looked up to the sky. Above of them, probably 50 feet high, floated a fish-looking airship.

"The sign of the hunters confederation!!"

"Is it the examination commity?"

Narrowing her eyes, Ava noticed something or someone falling from the airship towards them. When the person hit the ground, the impact of the fall left a big hole. The said person marched out of the smoke no scratch in seeing. Ava's eyes widened.

Netero!

"Netero-san! President of the hunters association.. The man reponsible for the trials!" 

' _Thank you for the introduction Menchi!'_ Ava noticed the slight change in her tone when she said that.. was that nervousness?

"Responsible, yes, but I'm only an executor." Netero spoke. ' _Wow! He sounds just like.. an old man.'_ Ava would probably have thought he was just a harmles geezer from his plain appearance, but she already knew his true nature, and she also just witnessed him jumping from 50 feet height and living to tell. Like she said before, this world is crazy.

"Menchi!"

"Yes,sir!" Menchi straightened up like a soldier.

Simultaneously, the crowd huddled together in curiosity, blocking Ava ,who was far behind, from the scene. She tried to stand on her tiptoes but she was just too short, and to add the salt on the wound, Buhara also stood up in front of her, his heavy feet making her jump in her place. Really, how do these man's legs keep up with his body? Another mystery about this world's physics.

' _What if they decided to reset this test results so that I have to participate in the re-test like the others too?'_ What if the judges forgot about her and thought no one passed? Or what if they took back the pass they gave to her and force her to fall from the cliff? Ava gulped, her hands on her cheeks mouth opened with no sound, just lika the 'scream' painting. Was her fate to fail? 

Ava, busy with her vast imagination, wouldn't have noticed the airship coming down to the ground and the huddling crowd slowly dispersing to advance towards it, without the pounding footsteps of Buhara that everytime shook her to the bone. She quickly followed them. Ava looked at Buhara who was marching next to her.

_Maybe she could ask him?_

"Ne, Buhara..... san." Ava called out to him adding the japanese respectful term at the end;

Buhara glanced down at her, giving Ava his attention. Ava felt like shrinking more in his gaze. She was like a dwarf or a midget in front of him. _'Focus, Ava!'_

"So, uh.. do I have also to redo the test or.. ?" Ava muttered lamely. Buhara stared at her longly, Ava wondered if he really forgot about her that fast before he smiled at her. 

"No, you don't have to. you already passed, right?" 

Believe Ava when she said that she never felt happier in her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! that was the longest chapter I've ever written until now. It actually came way more different than what l had imagined in my head. The ending though felt a little bit rushed out, l just wanted to get done with the second phase, but l'll come back later and fix it. One hint though for the next episode is the reason why Menchi let Ava pass, and no it wasn't because of her dish. Also I don't think anyone noticed, but every person who meets Ava calls her a 'he', they think she's a boy, l just wanted to make that clear if you didn't notice or maybe you did and you were wondering if l made a mistake, that's all. Until next chapter which will be in the airship. Jana~


	5. Part 1: Imagination x and x oddballs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first part of the fifth chapter, hope you enjoy it more than I am. ┐(‘～` )┌
> 
> Also thanks for the nice comments, I don't answer cause i don't know how, but know that l read every comment.

The ride to the mountain, where the re-test would go, was very fast. Ava hadn't even got the chance to explore the airship a little bit. The moment the airship landed safely on the ground, all the participants rushed out to the outside, while Ava slowly followed from behind.

Menchi, who was leading the group, stopped and pointed at the cliff.

"Here it is..."

Approaching the cliff nervously, the candidates looked down from it searching for the bottom, what they saw though were some webs hanging from the sides of the cliff.

Todo who had been suspiciously quiet since the ride, (maybe because getting beaten up by a Gourmet Hunter hit his big ego hard), finally spoke. "But... what is that?"

"A Spider Eagle's web." Menchi answered.

_Spider Eagle, huh?_ Imagining a big spider with big eagle wings, Ava instantly shivered at the thought. Spiders were already terrifying with their long hairy legs, add wings to them and they would be more dangerous than flying cockroaches.

"Look below the web." Menchi ordered.

Everyone simulatneously looked down. Ava who was also on top of the cliff looked too, narrowing her eyes slightly at what was underneath the web.

"Those are Spider Eagle's eggs." Menchi informed. "Spider Eagles build their webs in deep ravines, to protect their eggs from predators. This makes their eggs one of the most difficult ingredients to obtain."

"Those eggs are also known as 'dream eggs." Netero added. Ava almost forgot he was still there, he had been silent the whole time.

Todo looked at Netero with widened-eyes. "W-Wait a minute! You don't mean we..."

' _Yes buddy, you gotta jump from the cliff. That's insane, am I right?_ ' Ava should pity the guy a little bit, but hadn't he said that he wanted a 'real hunter exam' rather than a mere cooking trial? Well, that's what you get for being ungrateful.

"l sure do." answered Menchi for him before jumping abruptly from the cliff and hanging on one of the webs. Ava watched with awe as Menchi somersaulted in the air like she don't care and griped on the same web again to keep her balance.

How would she climb back though? Was the question everyone (except Ava) thought of asking.

After seconds of waiting (from Menchi) and anticipation (from the candidates), Menchi finally let go from the web. Some of the candidates closed their eyes in fear. Ava, instead, leaned further to get a good look at Menchi's super acrobatic performance. As Menchi was falling, she grabbed one of the eggs gently, before resuming her fall.

"Hey... SHE JUMPED DOWN!" One of the participants shouted. Silence fell on the group as if they were waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly, a strong stream of air arised from below, pushing up with it, yup you guessed it, Menchi towards the top of the cliff.

"This ravine has an updraft that helps the hatched chicks fly up to the web." Netero explained calmly.

Landing on the ground, Menchi showed the Spider Eagle egg, which she had grabbed, to the crowd. It was a very big white egg compared to the normal chicken egg, maybe even bigger than an austrich egg.

"There, now l just need to boil the egg."

Todo who had been next to her, stepped away stuttering. "Y-You must be joking! No reasonable person would jump down there..."

Almost instantly, and like this world was waiting for a chance to mock him, most of the paticipants jumped down, and hanged on the webs like monkeys. Ava was very relieved she didn't have to jump too, imagine if she hadn't passed the cooking trial and had to do this test!

Shaking her head from bad thoughts, Ava turned her attention back to the hanging monkeys underneath her, she noticed that their number lessened. That meant that some of the impatient guys already jumped, choosing to rush with ignorance thinking that they know, well ironically they didn't know that they were rushing to their death. On the other hand, the participants still hanging were calmly waiting, or in that case -Ava noticed they were waiting for Gon. The moment the said boy left the web, the others followed him instantly. Not all of them though, some chose to stay waiting, doubting the judging of a mere child. They chose to wait with ignorance thinking that they know, what they didn't know was that death doesn't wait. And once again, Ava was VERY glad that she followed her brain and passed the cooking test.

Stepping away, Ava watched as an another powerful air stream brought with it the qualified participants who landed on the ground with the eggs in their hands.

"That it?" Menchi asked the participants who didn't jump. "I guess you gived up."

"Quitting also asks some courage." Netero said wisely like the old man he was. "The exam takes place every year anyways.. !"

Hearing a clang sound behind her, Ava glanced behind her to see Buhara putting a big bowl full of water on a bunch of woods lit on fire. The participants saw this too and hurried to the pot circling around it, and putting the eggs they had grabbed in the water.

Ava watched the group as they waited with their wooden spoons for the eggs to boil. She figured out they were clueless about the time limit for these eggs to boil, after all they weren't normal chicken eggs. Well, considering the crazy things Ava saw today, she wouldn't be surprised that this world had its own way to distinguish its boiled eggs. Ava hummed in thought, _was that probably part of the re-test?_

Ava didn't remember this part, so she, interested, approached the group and focused her eyes on the eggs waiting herself for something abnormal to happen, like a change in the color of the eggs or something. Suddenly, the eggs started jumping in the bubbly water. The participants took it as a sign and took their jumping eggs out, with the wooden spoons of course. _One would think the eggs were grasshoppers eggs instead of spiders._ The candidates waited for the eggs to cool down before cutting them in halves and bringing it to their mouths to taste it.

Exclamation marks and Woah's were the perfect descriptions of the emotions that passed through the candidates faces.

"This is great!" One of them exclaimed loudly.

"The flavor deposits itself on the tongue! What an incredible taste! It's got nothing in common with a normal egg." Added another one 

Damn, they were making Ava hungry now. Surely, there must be some kind of an exaggeration in their words, after all it's just eggs, right? That's what Ava tried to convince her stomach with, but even though a thread of curiosity still hanged on her thoughts. But how would she get her hands on one of those eggs?

Fortunately for her, the answer came out rather quickly.

"Ne, Ava! Check this out!" An enthuastic voice suddenly called out to her.

Recognizing Leorio's voice anytime and anywhere, Ava shifted her gaze to the said man who was approaching her with a half-egg in one of his hands, a wide smile painting on his face. _Seemed like the eggs lifted up his spirits_. Ava watched with confusion as Leorio brought the hand holding the egg to her. Then Ava's eyes widened, as a big smile pulled on her lips. Leorio was sharing his egg with her. _How sweet_!

Had she ever said that Leorio was her favorite character?

Looking at Leorio with gratitude, Ava quickly snatched the egg from his hand and brought it to her mouth, taking a bite in desperate to taste this so-called dream egg.

_'It tastes like.... !!'_

Needless to say, Ava was flabbergasted. She had never tasted something comparable to this. At the same instant she took a bite, the rich flavour instantly exploded in her mouth leaving a pleasant flavor in her tongue. The flavor though lasted only for a second before it vanished completely like nothing happened. Even her brain forgot the flavor,but it still remembered the pleasure of tasting it. Just like waking up from a good dream, you maybe don't remember it, but a lingering feeling still tells you it was nice. Perhaps that's why those eggs were called the dream eggs.

Ava wondered how many people know about these eggs , how many rich men and food-lovers lusted for these eggs, yup just eggs! Ava pondered for a second about taking a dozen of these. They would probably cost thousands of money, but IF she really made it as a hunter, the first thing she would do is get a basket of these eggs. Maybe even take them home with her? Well, that's if she made it...

While imagining a hunter license miraculously falling from the sky on her, Ava realized that this world wasn't all that bad. And yes, it was very dangerous with monsters crawling of every hole and full of bad people in every corner, but behind all of that a good side was hidden behind it. Like a coin with two sides, one side couldn't exist without the other. And to get to the good side you have to face the danger of the bad one.

* * *

Eventually, the second trial ended with 43 people passing it, including Ava. Those who passed got a comfortable ride on the airship, while those who didn't... Well, they got a ride from the autobus, but only after walking down the whole mountain. Ava really wondered why they couldn't also give them a ride, at least down the mountain. Was the pilot that stingy! Or was it Netero? _hmmm..._ anywho, Ava was twice again very grateful she passed the cooking test. Imagine if Ava didn't, she had to either fall from the cliff to her death, or descend the whole mountain until tomorrow!

Back to the present, where the participants were all once again huddled in some room in the airship. In front them, stood Netero, who Ava recognized with his green skin as beans (she would call him Mr Beans), Menchi and Buhara. Ava thought that Netero would be the one speaking first, but surprisingly it was Menchi.

"Again, good job everyone. The 43 people here have passed the second phase. We are scheduled to arrive at the next destination at 8:00." Menchi informed the crowd. 

Stroking his white beard, Netero finally talked. "This tension is fine with me. Everyone sure looks serious." They did actually. Ava looked at the participants faces and most of them looked like they wanted to pick a fight with Netero.

As Netero said that, Mr Beans who was standing next to him suddenly turned to Netero with a panicking expression. "Netero-sama, we have to get back to the Hunter committee for the meeting."

Netero just huffed at him dismissively. "Thats not realy important. Someone else can go instead of me." Ava sweatdropped at him. That's the Hunters president for ya, that meeting must be very boring for him to not go. She wasn't the only one looking at him with knowing looks though, so were Menchi and Buhara.

"But.. " Poor Mr Beans tried to talk him to it again but Netero interrupted him. 

"It can't be helped, since we had an unexpected incident." Now he was trying to get out by putting the blame on Menchi. _How sly._ "If something else happens, I should be here to resolve it." 

' _Yeah, resolve it.. are you sure about that Netero?'_

_"_ But president! You are the president so..!" Ava never pitied someone as she did now for Mr Beans. 

Menchi, not wanting this one-sided convesation to continue any longer, intervened by coughing loudly. "Until the next meeting, it's free time. So then, the meeting is over." She dismissed the participants.

The crowd then dispersed to different directions. Ava, not finding anything of interest, sat next to Leorio and Kurapika, who looked very exhausted, on the ground. Putting her backbag on the ground next to her, Ava opened the blue bag and searched in it for anything useful. Her hand stopped at her phone who was sitting on her yellow flipflops. Taking it out, she tried turning it on, but the screen stayed on color black. _Oh! yeah, it was dead._ She completely forgot about that. Then what was she gonna do about it? what use of this phone if it was not working?... _Unless_... Ava brought her hand once again inside the bag, Her eyes held hope in them when she found her phone charger hidden in one of the pockets. _Why was it there?_ Ava didn't remeber putting it there, nor her phone for that matter. Well, she wasn't complaining though, all she needed now was an electrical outlet, but would an airship have one? and even if it did would it be suitable?

".... -with us Ava?"

Through her line of thinking, Ava hadn't noticed someone was talking to her. Hiding the phone quickly in her bag, she turned to Gon who was smiling at her. She awkwardly scratched her left cheek before suppressing a yelp, it still hurt.

"Uh.. Sorry, what?" How lame could she get.

Gon in reply pointed at Killua who was standing in front of them waiting for him. "Killua and I are going to explore the ship. Do you wanna come with us?" 

_Did she wanna go with them?_ Ava quickly listed the cons and the pros in her head. Ava had already had the idea to explore the airship but she didn't wanna do it alone, she wanted to ask Leorio and Kurapika to accompany her but they looked very tired. Knowing both Gon and Killua, they would probably search the whole airship in curiosity, so that means more chances to find the outlet.

The cons would be.. - well, Killua. For now, he was like a ticking bomb, anger him and he would probably annihilate Ava from existence. Looking at the said white-haired boy, Ava found him looking at her with.. judging eyes? _'He is probably judging my power.'_.. Or was he eying her swollen cheek?... Who knows?

Getting up from her place, she placed her blackbag on her shoulder and turned to Gon with a shrug.

"Okay, I'll go with you. There's nothing to do here anyways." She would just stand next to Gon, and avoid blurting out stupid things that would offend Killua. But knowing her babbling self, she most likely wouldn't.

* * *

The first room they visited was the cockpit. When they arrived at the door, Ava told them that it was not a good idea to enter without permission and distract the pilot. Gon, belike, also hesitated at entering the room suddenly, but Killua the stubborn brat he was dismissed her warning and opened the door with no hesitation. Gon then followed him, his curiosity getting the best of him, while Ava stayed in her place, already having a bad feeling about this.

As the two boys entered the dark room, a deep voice from the front suddenly started talking.

"The wind is calm and the visibility is good. The scariest thing about this night is drowsiness." It was the pilot. _Uh-oh_. "If you have time, get me some tea." The pilot asked thinking that one of his assistants was the one behind him. He turned in confusion when a childish voice answered him instead.

"Don't be lazy. Get your own tea." Ava almost choked on her spit when Killua said that. "But... if you let us pilot the ship, l'll get you some." Killua smiled at the pilot as Gon behind him chuckled awkwardly. They didn't last a second before the pilot grabbed them both and threw them out of the room.

Killua not expecting the pilot to do that got up from the ground and yelled at the pilot. "Lousy bum! Lock the door if you don't want someone to enter." 

"......."

"Pffff... let us pilot the ship he said! Haha!" Not able to contain herself anymore, Ava shook in laughter while mocking Killua in a high-pitched voice. Killua just glared at her before turning his attention to Gon who was sitting next to the ground, a depressing mood coating him. 

"I got in trouble.." Gon said to the wall. Killua just brushed him off thinking it was one of Gon's normal moods and stood up. Ava, meanwhile, stopped laughing and went to Gon putting a supporting hand on his shoulder as she helped him get up. Making sure that Killua was far away, she whispered in Gon's ear. "Next time, let's both run away and let Killua take the blame." Gon still sore about the pilot getting mad at him nodded at her in agreement.

Noticing that the two others were still walking slowly behind him, Killua shouted at them to hurry up, clueless about what was said behind his back.

"Cmon, slowpokes! Let's go the next place."

* * *

_** Meanwhile, at the hunter examiners room: ** _

"Hey, what do you think?" Menchi asked out of the blue.

Putting his teacup back on the table, Satotz shifted his gaze to her. "About the candidates this year?"

"Yeah. Although I failed almost all of them at once, l think most of them have a chance." Menchi told him enthuastically, "Some of them were surrounded by good auras. Satotz-san, what do you think?"

Satotz hummed in thought. "Let's see. The rookies are good this year."

Menchi smiled. "You think so, too? I think #294 has a good shot, even though he's bald."

"I'm partial to #99." Satotz stated.

Menchi huffed. "He looks like a spoiled, selfish brat. What about you Buhara?"

"Well.. " Buhara started, "He isn't a rookie, but #44 is the one I favor." The other two listened attentively. "I'm sure you noticed, but when #255 was throwing a fit, it was #44 who was on the verge of killing someone."

"I did notice that, of course." Menchi affirmed, "He could barely restrain himself from tearing off our heads. But didn't you realize that, Buhara? He was already that way from the moment we appeared."

"Really?"

"Yeah. That's the real reason l was so edgy. He kept challenging me."

Satotz, sipping from his tea, entered the conversation too. "I had a similar experience. He should be carefully monitored. Though it pains me to admit this, we are feathers of the same bird with him, however his affinity for darkness is far stronger. As hunters, we are continually seeking out rivals. Ultimaly, the hunters exam is but a place to find opponents worthy of respect. And once in a while, we encounter someone who hits the floor running when we try to slow things down. An oddball of sorts." Satotz explained calmy.

A layer of silent tension fell on the two as they listened to Satotz, they couldn't decide if it was because of excitement or the fear of the danger coming out of the participants.

After few seconds, Buhara sobered up resuming the conversation and maybe taking it to another way. " Speaking of oddballs... I think one of the participants doesn't have an aura."

"You mean the kid who I passed?" Menchi looked at him, sobering up instantly from the earlier conversation.

"So you noticed?"

"Yep, that's why I let him pass." Menchi explained, her normal demeanor vanishing into a serious one. "From the moment he approached us, l noticed something weird about him... At first, l brushed it off thinking it had something to do with #44 intense aura, but when l focused my eyes on the kid, l sensed nothing. It was not like he didn't have any aura, it was like he wasn't existing at all. l was so concentrated on finding his aura that l forgot to assess his plate appropriately. So l qualified him because I wanted to try and sense his aura again."

Buhara sweatdropped at her. ' _lsn't that a bit unfair to the other candidates?'_

"Maybe the kid was knowledgeable about the basics of Nen, and was using Zetsu." Satotz, interested, tried to offer an explanation from what he heard.

Menchi shook her head. "I'm quite positive he wasn't using Zetsu."

Satotz narrowed his eyes at her. "How are you sure?"

"As we all know Zetsu stops the flow of aura from the body altogether. By closing all of the Aura Nodes, the user makes their presence much harder or even impossible to sense." Menchi clarified. "... But the kid's aura wasn't shut completely. If you give full concentration on his aura for a long time, you could sense it gradually, but if you lose focus even for a second you will lose the sense of it. And I don't think the kid was even aware of his aura. It didn't look like he was hiding it, from what I sensed... it was like the aura was trying to hide itself."

Buhara, who was listening the whole time, added. "I also noticed that it doesn't work on the participants without Nen knowledge."

Menchi and Satotz looked at him both in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Knowing he didn't phrase his words righ, Buhara began to explain. " Most of the participants seemed to notice the kid. When a person's aura is shut down, a normal person wouldn't get to notice the presence of the user, probably even avoiding him unconsciously or move past him like he wasn't even there. He became transparent to them. But that wasn't the case here."

"So in other words, the aura is only full visible for those who weren't aware of it yet. And is invisible for those who were aware about Nen and auras." Satotz summarized. His words describing a strange phenomenon he never heard about when it came to Nen discussions. _Curious_. "What was that kid number again?" He asked the two Gourmet Hunters curiously, however instead of a simple answer, all he got was a deafening silence.

No one of them knew or remembered the kid's budget's number.

* * *

After visiting many rooms and places, the trio found themselves resting on one of the benches in the hallway. 

"There weren't any fun places." Scowled Killua.

_'Duh... This is an airship. What did you expect to find? An amusement park?'_ Ava bit her lip in time from blurting that outloud.

"Really? l thought it was pretty fun." Gon said.

Ava slumped in the bench. "... And pretty hilarious." She still wasn't getting over Killua and Gon being thrown out like dodgeballs from the cockpit. She kept replaying it in her mind, and it wasn't getting anyless funnier. 

"Woah... Ava! Killua! Look, Look!" Gon suddenly called out to them, his face on the window behind him.

Curious, Killua and Ava both looked from the window at what Gon was wowing at. Underneath the foggy dark clouds, the shining lights of a city came in view.

Gon looked at the scenery in awe. "It looks like jewelry that is spread out all over the place." ' _That's one way to describe it.'_ thought Ava. She looked back at the city, an emotion of sadness suddenly engulfing her. Those lights of never sleeping cities reminded her of her own home, her own world. Thinking about it fully for the first time, Ava wondered about her family, was they searching for her now? did they miss her? Or they hadn't even noticed her abscence?

"You've never seen a night view before, Gon?" Killua asked Gon, interrupting Ava's thoughts from getting any further and earning her attention back. _That's right_! Gon used to live in an island so this would be maybe his first time seeing this kind of view.

"Before, Kiriko-san carried us at night. But there wasn't that much light." Ava saw a look of confusion pass through Killua's blue eyes, perhaps wondering who was this Kiriko-san. She must admit that Gon had a very peculiar way of answering questions, he probably wasn't aware that most of his replies left others puzzled even if he was honest. "What about you, Killua?" She heard Gon ask.

"My family owns a plane, so l've seen it a million times." Ava didn't even comment. 

"Damn you." No that wasn't her, that was shockingly Gon.

"We need a plane. Our house is on a huge mountain." Killua explained.

"What?"

"We have also about 200 workers." Ok, now, he was just flexing.

"So your family is rich, Killua. What do your parents do?" Ava then started the drums.

_DUN-DUDDA-DAN_

"They're assassins." Who would've thought?

They both looked at Ava...

_Oops. Did she say that out loud?_

Saving her from the oopsie (and Ava deciding to stay silent), Gon turned back his attention to Killua. "Both of them?"

Killua blinked at him for a moment, before he gave a loud laugh. "You're the first one to ask something like that seriously."

"Well, you're saying the truth , right?" asked Gon.

Killua stared at him. "What makes you think that?"

"Just a hunch." That's Gon for ya. 

"That's weird." Killua said as he put his hand on the window. " People only find me charming because they can't tell wether l'm serious or not." Ava wasn't too sure about the charming part but... _' l guess, Killua you do you.'_

"I'm from a family of assassins. So they're all assassins" Killua started. " And my family has high hopes on me, but I can't stand it. Who wants his whole life planned out for him?" He then looked at Gon with wide eyes. "When l told them i wanted to decide my own future, they all snapped!" _Was Killua ranting?_ "My mom had tears streaming down her face, as she told me I had the potential to be a top assassin. Horrible parents, right?It's natural their kid would go bad." Gon just chuckled awkwardly. "We ended up fighting, so I stabbed my mother in the face, and my brother in the side and ran away from home. l'm sure they're out for blood now. But if they find me, I'll send them packing." Ava didn't doubt he would do it. Could someone pleasy take the Zoldycks to the next therapist... Was therapy even something here? looking at the mad issues some of the characters of this series have, therapy must be like the pepper spray she had, non existents in this world. Ava had never met someone in real life who would stab their parents, even she fought with her parents but never took it to this extent. But then again, this world was ana exception, and so was the messed up world of the Zoldycks family.

Killua , then, stood up, a flowery mood engulfing him. Ava could swear she saw blue bright lights surrounding him. "When I become a hunter, I'll start by capturing my family. I'm sure they're worth some hefty bounties..." He declared determinely. 

Ava just sweatdropped at him while gon chuckled awkwardly once again. Gon then turned to her.

" And what about you, Ava?"

"What about me?" She asked him back.

**"Why do you want to be a hunter?"**

Why did she want to become a hunter? ... That's because... -

"l wanna go home." Ava blurted out.

Not excpecting that kinda answer, Gon and killua both stared at her in confusion. "Huh?"

_oOh, shit_. She shouldn't probably have said that. Now she would have to think of a convincing lie. Or maybe half-truths. 

"Uh.. yeah. I want to become a hunter to find my home back." Ava said, a vague but hidden answer within her reply.

Gon turned his full attention to her as Killua sat back on the bench. "Did you lost it?" Gon asked her. Wow he was taking her seriously. Maybe that's why Killua laughed earlier. 

Ava scratched her right cheek. "Yeah... l guess."

"You guess?" Killua raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. "How you don't remember where you live?"

_Damn you, Killua_.

"Of course l still remember!" What did he take Ava for, a fly?

"Then what's the problem?" asked Gon.

"The problem is that the place where I live is just far far far far far far far far far far far far far far far far far away from any place you know. To get to it I need a special power." She meant Nen, but they didn't know that. 

A silence layered on the trio, before Ava heard Killua whisper something in Gon's ear.

...

"Hey! l'm not crazy!" She shouted at Killua.

"l didn't say that!" Killua tried to lie, but unfortunately Ava knew him more than himself.

"Well, Gon's expression begs to differ." Killua then glanced at Gon who had a shocked expression on his face.

Killua looked like he wanted to retort something back but he didn't get the chance as an intense feeling suddenly crept into the trio's necks, the feeling of someone watching them.

In an instant, both Killua and Gon turned their heads towards the feeling's source's direction, while Ava turned her head to the opposite direction waiting for _*cough_ * someone _*cough_ * to appear.

And surprise not surprise.. It was Netero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... l wanted to post this on Friday, but my stupid computer shut down while l was writing on Wordpad, and it didn't save. So l was mad 凸( ` ﾛ ´ )凸 , and didn't want to re-start writing from the beginning again cause l really liked my writing before, but your beautiful comments gave me the will to continue, and this is what you got. This is just the first part of the chapter, and since this post is so long, the second part will be short, but l hope it will be better than this part. Also, you probably noticed, but some of the scenes in this part were taken not from 2011 version of hunter x hunter but from the old version, and that's because l think the old ver. had some hidden gems in it, some more details, l might even include fillers. The way l write this story is by combining the 2011, 1999 and the manga of hunter x hunter., so hope you won't get confused especially for those who haven't watched the old vers. And finally, my question for you, what do you think Ava's aura's type would be?


	6. (Part 2) OP x and GPS

Ava gazed at the approaching Netero with wonder. ' _How the hell is he walking with these shoes?'_ It didn't even make a sound as he was walking. She then put her hand on Gon's shoulder and shook him gently. Gon peered at her in question but when he noticed that Ava wasn't even looking at him, he followed her gaze and found chairman Netero walking towards them.

"Netero-san!"

Hearing Gon's voice, Killua also peeked behind him not expecting to see Netero. The said old man, with stretching earlobes, had a calm smile on his face as he advanced towards the trio, but Ava could sense a mischievous expression behind his 'innocently passing by' manner.

"Something wrong?" Netero asked like he didn't know.

Narrowing his eyes at him, Killua studied the approaching old man, while Ava stared at Netero silently. Gon, not noticing the awkward atmosphere, asked Netero.

"Ah, Netero-san.. did you see anyone coming from that side?" Gon pointed at the direction where the creepy feeling came from.

Netero only shook his head. "No." The purposeful mocking tone in his voice annoyed Ava a little.

Killua, already figuring out what Netero did, stepped towards him.

"You're pretty fast for an old man." Indeed he was. Ava rememberd that Netero had earned the title for the most powerful Nen user in the world, so basically he was the strongest human alive, right? 

Netero didn't even blink at Killua's insult-compliment. "That little trick? l barely moved." Killua, in consequence, sent him a dirty look. Meanwhile, Gon was looking between his friend and Netero in confusion, not understanding what was going on, while Ava had already backed away behind Gon, not wanting to be stuck in this inconvenient situation. 

"What do you want?" killua cut to the chase, his voice dripping with disinterest. "You don't have to do anything until the last phase, right?" Technically, yes, Ava noted... but his words made Netero seem like a 'lazy slackish with no work to do' president. 

"No need to be so unkind. I was bored, and was looking for some companions." Killua just stared at netero with a blank face. "By the way, I meant to ask the three of you.." Netero suddenly changed the subject, ".. any thoughts on your first attempt at the hunter examination?" 

Gon beamed at the question. "Uh-hah, it's fun." he said nodding at Netero, "and there haven't been any of the written exams I was dreading." Ava had the opposite feeling, she could take written exams anytime if it meant not dealing with monsters, fighting, and falling from cliffs.

"I'm disappointed.." Typical Killua. "I expected the exam to be far more difficult. I assume the next phase to be more entertaining?" Ava sweatdropped at him, how difficult did he want it to be? And did he use the word 'entertaining'? He thought all of this was an entertainment? Ava was dead.

Netero looked at the side like he was thinking about Killua's question. "Well, I wouldn't know about that.. " Killua frowned even more. Netero then turned to Ava who was watching silently, he stared at her for a weird moment before asking her ".. And you, little girl?"

_What did Ava think?.. hmm.. good question.._

"For me, I think it was.. " _Crazy, dangerous, absolutly insane, can we get a break please, you're all mad, were you high when you planned the trials, Netero?_ Was what Ava wanted to say but she would then look like the crazy one. "It was.. excit-"

"Wait a second!!" Ava didn't get to continue her speech as Killua suddenly yelled, he then looked at her with wide eyes and a funny expression like he just figured out something, and pointed his finger at her face, which was very rude. " You're... a girl?!!"

Ava was confused. Didn't they already know that? She looked at Gon, who also had a shocked expression on his face. So.. what? They thought she was a guy? Ummm.. ' _Ok, that's awkward.' N_ ow, was she offended that they thought she was a guy? _hmm, not really,_ with the wild short haircut she had, she probably looked boyish, so she won't criticize them, it didn't even matter.

The 'Duh' look on Ava's face answered Killua's blunt question. A weird look twisted in Killua's pale face before he suddenly blurted out.

"But.. You don't even look like a girl!!"

"....."

_Ok, now she was offended_. Ava glared at Killua with annoyance . "Can't say the same thing about you!" 

It took Killua half a second to understand her insult, before he exploded. "What.. ?!" Ava stepped back next to Gon making him her shield against the fuming Killua as she stuck her tongue rudely at him. 

"You heard what I said.. Kellie!" That was the last straw as killua went red with fury. Like Ava said before, he was a ticking bomb, he was already pissed off by Netero and now that Ava was mocking him, he would've snapped her neck if it wasn't for someone's interruption.

"Ho ho ho." Netero's Santa Claus like laugh interrupted their bickering contest. Killua then turned to the opposite direction ready to leave with a humph.

"Gon, let's go.." Killua called out to Gon, ignoring Ava. _Heh, seemed like she hit a nerve,_ Ava smiled smugly. Gon hesitated to follow him not wanting to leave Ava alone. "Wait, Killua... "

"Now wait just a moment." Netero told Killua. The said boy lowered his eyebrows in irritation, what did he want from him? "Would you care to play a game with me?"

"A game?" Gon repeated curiously.

"If you're able to defeat me, I shall let you be Hunters" _Oooh, interesting!_ would have been Ava's stupid response to his challenge request if she hadn't watch the anime. Haha, imagine her accepting the challenge of the strongest man in this world, even if it was just some ball game. _Umm no, thank you_ , Ava was not interested in losing. 

"Really? I'll play!" On the contrary of Ava, Gon accepted enthusiastically. While Killua looked at Netero with doubt, suspicious of the old man's hidden intents.

Netero, however, remained his playful smile. "What do you think, eh?"

".... ."

"Fine." Killua answered with a scowl as a sly victory smile played underneath Netero's beard. The said man then indicated to follow him to the room where the game would take place. Killua and Gon followed him, while Ava.. was tiptoeing towards the opposite direction, she had been stepping away the whole time Netero and Killua were looking daggers at eachother, wanting to get away secretely. You think she was gonna play catch the ball with Netero? Seriously? Ava had thought about going with them just to watch the arrogant expression on Killua transform to an angry frown when he finds out that Netero was too strong. Heh, he probably thought he could kill Netero or something. _Sorry to destroy your beautiful dreams Killua, but that's not happening._ Nevertheless, Ava had the important mission of searching for a power outlet to charge her phone, and also she needed to find food ASAP. Her stomach was roaring from hunger.

Just as she was gonna turn around the corner, Ava heard Gon's voice calling out to her. She sighed.

"Ava, you're not coming with us?" He looked at her with big questioning eyes. Killua and Netero also stopped to glance at what was she doing.

"Er.. I'm not going." 

"Eh? Why?" Ava just blinked at Gon. Should she give him 2000 words essay about why playing with Netero is a no-no? And didn't he just witness killua almost 'assassinat'ing her? But knowing Gon's character, he probably thought they were playing or something.

".. I have something important to do. And besides," Ava glanced at Netero. "This grandpa is just too OP for me. You have fun with him." She waved at Gon before disappearing quickly behind the corner.

Gon looked confused while Killua and Netero remained silent. It was until they arrived at the room, that Gon finally asked.

"Ne, Killua.."

"What?" Killua glanced at him.

"What does OP mean?"

* * *

Netero was a confusing person to Ava. He had a twisted personality that made no sense. Sometimes he was playful and mischievous, extravagant with odd actions, and other times he looked serious, but the latter happened only when he found a strong worthy opponent, or when he faced a new interesting challenge. Ava was aware of netero's fighting skills, so as his Nen abilities. That's why she hid behind Gon the moment he appeared, after all, she wasn't from this world, what if Netero noticed something strange about her and decided to eliminate her... from life. She was put on edge the whole time. 

But now that Ava was alone, she could resume her search. But first of all, she needed to fill her empty stomach, and maybe look for the closest bathroom. She hadn't seen how bad her swollen cheek looked yet.

As she walked through the dark hallway alone, Ava stopped in her tracks when she heard people whispering coming from behind. She instinctively crouched behind one of the big plant pots placed in the hallway for decoration, her small figure conveniently covered. Ava didn't know why Undertale suddenly popped out in her mind, but she brushed the odd thought off, and waited for the talking strangers to pass by. Now that Ava was thinking about it, why did she hide in the first place?..

_'Maybe because this airship is full of psychos that can exterminate me anytime?'_ Ava couldn't trust this world nor its people, not yet at least. 

Expecting the passersby to.. pass by and go to their own way, Ava tensed when their footsteps stopped in front of her pot. _Did they know she was hiding behind it?_ Ava held her breath trying to conceal any sound, as she listened to the strangers whispers.

_"_ Now that we're here, what do you want.. Tompa?" A deep voice spoke with disdain.

Ava almost choked as she heard the name. _What was Tompa doing here_? Letting curiosity getting the best of her, Ava peeked behind the pot. She easily spotted Tompa's remarkable smurf-like blue clothes, but she couldn't distinguish the others as they were standing far away from her to see. She resolved to keep quiet and listen to the ongoing conversation.

Ava saw Tompa gulp before talking. "I need another service from you."

"Service? After the false informations you gave us!" Another voice spoke this time, it was more high-pitched, more younger, and it held a great anger.

"Yeah! What was that about, Tompa? I thought we had a deal!" The first deep voice spat in irritation.

Tompa fidgeted in his place, probably from nervousness. But he quickly composed himself, and said. "How would I have known that the second trial would've been about cooking? All the informations I gave you were only theories and hypotheses about the upcoming phases. I had never said to you that they were 100% true. I was also shocked by the revelation of the test."

Ava heard a 'tch' from one of the men before the deep voice talked again. "What do you want?"

"I want you to keep eyes on those people and report to me informations about them." Tompa then showed from his pocket a paper and gave it to the men. Ava couldn't understand what was going on anymore. Was there originally a scene like this in the show?

Ava shifted her attention back to the conversation when one of the men started reading what was written on the paper.

"#246.. #53.. #294.. #80.. #384.." The voice continued. ".. #99.. #403.. #404.. #405.." Ava's eyes widened. ' _wait, aren't those...?'_

_"_ Those are all the numbers?" A new voice asked.

Tompa hesitated in his answer. ".. No. There is still one."

"Why didn't you put his number with the others then?" Deep voice demanded.

Ava leaned further, her eyes twitching with interest. _Another number?_ Who could it possibly be? Hisoka? Ava pondered about it for a second... _Nah_. Then maybe Illumi?.. 

"It's because I don't know his badge's number." Tompa said. 

_What?_

"What? You not remembering a participant's number? Hah, What nonse-"

"It's not like that." Tompa cut the voice's owner off. " I said l don't know his number, not l don't remember it."

Loud footsteps stomped towards Tompa, as Deep voice suddenly snapped. "Stop messing with us, Tompa! Just get to the damn point! Tell us who is it!"

"Fine, fine. Sheesh.." Ava heard Tompa mutter. "This person I want you to keep a close eye on is.. Ava."

' _HUH?!'_

Ava flinched in her place, not expecting her name to be brought up. 

"Who is that?" Young voice asked.

"Blue sweater, red pants, light brown hair with a wild haircut. A plain looking kid. Always wearing a blue backbag." Tompa's description fit Ava downright. The said hiding girl was for a half second thunderstruck. Why was Tompa suddenly interested in her? She barely talked with the man for like 6 seconds or something.

"Doesn't seem much." Young voice scoffed. Ava scowled at him. "Anyways, what the sudden interest in kids, Tompa?"

Tompa only laughed it off. "Maa, You'll see when you find the kid."

So it had to do with something about her appearance. _Something noticeable_. Ava looked down at her clothes, but noticed nothing different about it. Maybe then her face? 

The conversation then continued with Deep voice asking about the service's price, Tompa bargaining, then them parting to their own ways, Tompa taking the opposite direction from the others. 

The sudden silence sobered up Ava from her her heavy thoughts, as she was left alone, behind a plant pot, wondering what mess she was stuck into again.

* * *

After long 3 minutes of searching, Ava finally found a bathroom. She quickly slided into it, locking the door behind her. 

Placing herself in front of the mirror, A loud shriek left Ava's mouth when she saw her reflection. _'What-..? Who is that?''_ She couldn't even recognize herself in the mirror. Her left cheek was very swollen that it had its own territory in her face, it looked like a bloated balloon stuck on her head.

"Goddamit, Hisoka. You-!"

Not wanting to look another second at the madness on her face, Ava switched her gaze to her hair, which had its own thing going on. The monstrosity looked more untamed than ever. Her bangs poofed out for some reason, maybe because of the humidity of the forest they hade a marathon in, and her long bangs at the sides smelled like dirt and roasted pork. _Blegh!_ She turned around to peek at the reflection of her hair from behind, and if only she didn't. It was a week ago when she had decided that her long hair was such a pain and it needed to be trimmed. But instead of going to a professional hairdresser, Ava chose to cut it herself. _It.. didn't work out_. She was going for a stylish bob cut, but all she got was a failing emo-wannabe haircut. 

Ava backed away to get a look at her clothes. As expected they were stained with mud. No wonder everyone were giving her weird looks when she passed them by looking like a hobo. _How embarrassing!_

Well, it's not like she could help it. After all, she was transported to this world with no pre-warning. And speaking of this world, how the hell did she even get here? Did she travel dimensions in her sleep? As ava began listing the many possibilites of dimension-travel in her head, she brought her legs to the sink to wash the mud of them... _'Why do I feel like Nen is somehow involved in this?'_ Ava furrowed her eyebrows in thought. But wasn't Nen always involved when it came to hunter x hunter world?

After getting rid of all the mud on her feet, Ava removed her sweater, and started inspecting it, looking for any hidden insects or miniscule monster-bugs. Fortunately, the only thing standing out in her sweater was the picture of a tongue saying BLEH! As she put on her sweater back, the conversation from earlier came back to her mind. Frow what she heard, Tompa now was sending spies to stalk her and the others, which by the way was totally not creepy, and to report to him every trivial useful information about them. Useful for what? Ava had no idea, but to think she would be also someone Tompa took interest in. Just what is it that made her noticeable? 

Replaying her conversation with Tompa in the tunnel, Ava couldn't remember anything happening out of ordinary (except her realizing that she was trapped in the hunter x hunter world). She tried recalling anything, a flickering of an eye or a slip of a tongue that happened in that short time, and connecting it with what Tompa said earlier to the anynomous men.

~~"~~ _ ~~You'll see when you find the kid."~~ _

So it was something anyone could notice if they were more attentive. Something unordinary she possessed and wasn't aware of or maybe.. something ordinary she didn't possess. Which one of those was the answer? 

Ava forced her brain to recall more of the conversation, to remember at what point she was brought up. 

~~_"This person I want you to keep a close eye on is.. Ava."_~~

No, no. Before that _._ Something about numbers and badges.

_~~"Those are all the numbers?" A new voice asked.~~_

_~~Tompa hesitated in his answer. ".. No. There is still one."~~_

_~~"Why didn't you put his number with the others then?" Deep voice demanded.~~_

Ava's eyes light up as she finally connected the dots. ' _Oh, no.'_ She put her hands at the sides of her head in frustration. How come after two phases of the exam that she only realized this right now? How distracted was she to not pay attention to such an important thing!

_~~"It's because I don't know his badge's number." Tompa said.~~_

Her badge number.. !

Tompa didn't know her badge number because.. she just didn't have one! That was was the thing missing!

"Aaargh!" Ava groaned, wringing her hands in agitation.

All of the examinees were given those numbers at the beginning of the exam, by Mr Beans. They were a necessity for the whole exam. With them, the judges could recall an examinee, and on them was constructed the fourth trial of the exam, Ava hadn't forget that. And it was asked for all the candidates to allways wear them, at all the times. Except for Ava. She didn't wear it because she didn't have one! _Ugh_! Another dilemma in Ava's life to solve. Sitting on the toilet seat, Ava put her hand under her chin, trying to think of a solution.

Since she didn't have a badge, it was most likely that not just Tompa but many people noticed her not wearing one, which brought her to another problem. 

Netero! 

There was no way he wouldn't notice! He was called a genius for a reason, and he was also the one responsible for creating the rules of the trials. There was just no way. But then, why didn't he say something to Ava? Like ask her about it? Or a warning?

But then, again, Netero was very weird.

_..hmmmm.._

Could she ask for a badge? Ava could say she had lost it in the forest or something.. 

_'.. No. Too obvious.'_

Maybe.. She could s-

_'No! I would never steal something!'_

Ava sighed heavily.. There was actually still one left idea, but she wasn't sure it would work.

The only possible solution for Ava was.. to make her own badget. 

Out of ideas, Ava opened her backbag, carefully searching for her pencil case and some paper. A badget was easy to make, Ava was further more certain about her artistic skills.. maybe. But even though, the problem lied within not the numbers, but the badget itself. In the anime, the badgets given had some GPS-thing device installed in it, so in the fourth trial, the candidates could be found even if they were lost. And Ava making her own badget, prevented her from having that GPS advantage. But despite knowing all that, Ava couldn't risk it. Tompa was already suspicious of her, she couldn't let the others doubt her too. 

Her thoughts drifted as she began DIYing her badget. She didn't know when, but at one second her eyelids felt heavier than ever, and she was suddenly wrapped in a profound sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.. Hi! This is the second part of the fifth chapter. lt actually felt more like a filler than a chapter though __φ(．．). l suddenly decided to give Tompa some.. kinda importance in the Hunters Arc.. I guess.. also for those who wanted to read Netero's reaction to Ava, I will leave that to another chapter, possibly at last trial. Dunno why I said this chapter was gonna be shorter, it came out as long as the first part. (￢ ￢) Also you would know that I suck at titles now .. Anyways, see you next chapter. ~~

**Author's Note:**

> 1748 words for a first chapter..not bad.. If you found any mistake in expressions or grammar.. you can comment about it , English isn't my mother language , but it's all about learning and having fun at the same time...It doesn't feel like much for now, the story I mean, but neither hunter x hunter at the beginning sooo..tchow~


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